Discussion/Side note: Discussed me (Scott/Pimfire) taking over DM status for the following 2-3 game sessions to run low levels. Also talked about changing game time to start at 5:30est so Robert can make it to the game.

Mission Objective: After securing trade with Orin we are given transport to Ribcage to meet with Moralien to establish trade.

Our Viking host brings us to the edge of a blood red sea and barren wasteland. We take a few samples of the land as it’s strange unlike anything we’ve seen before. The Gymnasium of Steam we are told is actually located outside of the city of Ribcage. We decide it’s best to head straight there and not explore the city as it’s on the edge of the realms to Baator and we didn’t wish to linger here.

We are greeted by a beautiful aquatic colored elven lady, Suinn, at the Gymnasium of Steam who shows us around and lets us sample it’s facility free of charge, this time. While we are relaxing in what we are sworn is a private steam room a figure bursts in carrying a club and sack of gold. This figure screams out for us return his wife and kids. He believes we kidnapped them. Looking a lot like a Centaur, Pimfire manages to calm him down with some quick talking and offers to help find the real culprit. It turns out he is Moralien a Bariaur.

As we are discussing the details of how, when and whom may have taken his family we notice an invisible outline of a figure in the steam attempt to take the sack of gold he had brought with him and laid down. Clearice manages to make the figure grovel and repent his sins. Upon a quick interrogation we learn he wrote the 2nd ransom note demanding the money be brought here but in fact did not participate in any kidnapping. He did mention that Moralien did business recently with a beautiful woman of note, whom he believes was an agent of Sune or possible Sune herself in disguise.

Moralien lets the would be blackmailer go, but not before we learn a bit about how things work legally in Ribcage. For example bribery, theft and such is allowed provided both parties agree and that is to say, you’re not caught. Also mentioning any demonic being name or class of creature is forbidden due to the proximity to Baator. As Pimfire finds out when he starts babbling about how he can’t be here if Sune is due to a misunderstanding involving a powerful demon being brought into her city in an effort to see an evil relic destroyed.

The group examines the original note he received which was just a bunch of riddles, which we managed to solve in large part due to Xavier. As the last riddle was solved, his wife and child appeared with confused expressions on their faces. Moralien brings them up to speed. I mention we came here seeking trade with him in fact and he agrees after trying some samples of perfume Pimfire just happened to have. Something about they were horrible despite the expense. He did have one condition and that was that his family and him must be allowed to move immediately to Ravens Bluff as it’s getting more dangerous here in Ribcage then he cares for. An interesting bid of information that might become useful in later times. Why would it now become more dangerous in an already dangerous area? Could something be riling up the denizens of Baator and if so, who or what could be doing that.

We agree to bring him and his family whom we realize might have been taken by Sune as a test of his love for his family. We are planar teleported back to Ravens Bluff thanks to Clearice and meet up with Lady Devillars and the Mayor. We inform them of our success of establishing trade with 2 new partners for the city and are rewarded. Most of us refuse the reward of gold since the city is in desperate need of funds but a few of us are in need of funds and take the money.

REWARDS

High level PC’s:

1,000 gp each – only Zhigbar and Xavier takes the money the rest gives it back. Ellae takes half and donates half.
1 bottle of Fragrance de Allurement for EACH PC from Moralien (50 gp value, makes you smell nice, no other in-game effect.)
1bag of assorted gems (17,000 gp value) for the Treasury / we divide this and everyone gets their share including Dalarn 2834gp worth of assorted gems

Low level PC’s: / to be decided whom gets what

SMOKE
Pipe of Heated Wind:
This pipe looks like a curved metal pipe that is closed at one end. When the command word inscribed on the side is spoken, hot air streams from the open end. It is ordinarily used to dry things, especially hair. The inscribed word is Hellatiusairblowin.

BOOTS
Boots of Stomping:
These boots function as boots of expeditious retreat. When they are used to move quietly, they make the footsteps of the wearer sound like the thuds of an elephant that can be easily heard up to 120 feet away.

SUNLIGHT
Composite Short Bow of Light +1:
This short bow fires “tracers” as each arrow is lit as if affected by a light spell. The arrows do double damage to any undead.

LC5-136-Part 2

Discussion/Side note: Discussed Amuka and Xavier wedding. To be married start of the New Year. Joe will be doing up a special mission for our first January 2019 game.

Mission Objective: Meet with Orin and secure the agreement to trade with Ravens Bluff by dealing with some trouble he’s having

Upon being summoned to meet with Lady Devillars, we are briefed as to the current situations regarding the need for trade partners in the Badlands. We are given directions to meet up with Orin in Glorium and the deal struck by Amuka and friends to help him deal with a band of what he believes to be cultist of the Beholder God Gzemnid.

Upon meeting with Orin he agrees to keep his end of the bargain to begin trade with Ravens Bluff should we deal with the cultists? We get on a Viking ship he summons and it takes us out onto the water. The ship takes us to the spot where it is believes they are raiding ships from, which is some underwater cavern. We prepare ourselves with various spells against water breathing and movement and go down to investigate.

As we, head inside the large underwater cavern we are attacked by swarms of sharks, swimming amongst them are incredible large Astral sharks. Ellae is swallowed completely by one such shark. Zhigbar summoned a giant vortex in the water to pull and hold them still while Xavier managing to kill one screams out they are in actuality Asgardian Weresharks that transform back into a giant frost giant upon its death.

The battle is fierce and just as we think we have it won in walks 3 mammoth Weresharks in half form charge across from the dark side of the cavern to engage us.

Wielding a huge battleaxe the leader strides through a blade barrier Clearice had put up earlier to deal with the swarms as if it is nothing. Realizing he might be immune to the magic Xavier goes toe-to-toe with him. Zhigbar transforms into a silver dragon and attacks the wereshark who is a spellcaster only to watch as it flees the battle swearing revenge. Clearice gets impaled upon a harpoon by the 3rd large monstrosity. Xavier finally deals the final blow to the last one standing which had impaled Clearice. Realizing we could never carry the mammoth gear of these frosts giant Weresharks we head back to the surface.

Upon our return Orin is pleased to hear the tale of our fight and struggle, which Pimfire is glad to tell with only a little embellishment during a feast held in our honor. Suddenly the party went silent as a beautiful woman walks up from the harbour straight to me, Pimfire, and asks me to tell the tale for her. I do so, in fact I found myself telling her most of my adventures if not my whole life story.

In the morning after the party Orin agrees to begin trade as we sign the documents sealing the deal. He gives us some advice on whom we should avoid going to see for any further trade with such as Plague-Mort as it borders the Abyss and Clearice and Xavier would stand out and most likely die within moments of traveling there. He does agree to provide transport for us to reach Moralien at the Gymnasium of Steam outside of Ribcage. We decide to head there on his Viking ship.

REWARDS

Trade set up with Orin in Glorium
Stash of Gems from Orin
Wooden Planar token (each) for Asgard
Xavier got his Torm Full Plate Armor buffed to +1 for charging into battle against the huge Wereshark

Mission Objective: Go to the outlands and establish trade contacts with people for the city of Ravens Bluff

Amuka and friends are summoned to the Mayor’s house where upon Lady Devillars meets with them. She asks them to seek out trade opportunities for the city of Ravens Bluff as the war a year ago and the cost of building Ravens Deep and the losses in the war to destroy the Heart of Bane have nearly drained the city coffers.

The best place to seek out new trade opportunities we are told is the Badlands, meaning a trip through the various realms of existence possibly. We are paid 500g up front with a promise of another 500g each upon completion of finding contacts/trade. We are also given various samples of the goods that Ravens Bluff can offer. A quick explanation on how things operate in the astral realms and whoosh! We are gated to a spot in the Badlands. There we are met by our guide A’Rinthorm a Githzerai.

Upon our arrival we find a strange device with many gears, levers, buttons and do-Hickes. We watch in fascination as a guard puts his hands into the massive device and has his hands turned into claws. Some others are taking notes on what the machine does. We find out a bit more about this machine and how they aren’t sure what it does but are trying to catalogue it as parts from all the realms seem to make it up and no two people receive the same effect. Amuka quickly volunteers her services as a guinea pig but not before explaining the benefits of using monkeys, she had to explain what they are, with the possibility of trading monkeys to them in the future she steps forth. The rest follow suit afterwords.

Amuka is convinced it might remove her claw hand. A strange tingling in her belly along with the feeling of being hungry is all that happens. From now on, Amuka needs to eat twice as much as normal or take a -2 penalty to everything.

Michaela goes next hoping to cure blindness and seemingly drops dead to the ground. After 30-40 seconds, he wakes up. It seems the device has given him the ability gained is Feign Death at will with +20 Bluff rolls to do so and useable as immediate action.

Bill goes and twitches wildly unable to let go no matter how much he screams too. His brown eyes turn Gold Color and appraise becomes a class skill and gains a skill focus feat in appraisal.

HK-58 goes and feels a tickle on his right palm and when it stops his right hand looks different. He screams in terror and flies out of the room quickly. Chroniclers follow taking notes. Eventually when he stops running, he looks at his hand, screams, and runs even more until they put a glove on his hand with a permanent symbol of terror with a DC30 Will save only affects him on his right hand.

Veth goes with the hopes will turn into a true dragon. He gets a bit of a headache as a blueish light surrounds him. When the machine stops, he looks around and realizes he can find all gemstones within in 50 feet of him. Detect Gems 3x a day within 50ft and includes finding things in extradimensional space.

Zimb goes and it’s like WHY! As it gets suddenly cold. Then he see’s ice coming up his arm and onto his shoulders and quickly turns into an ice sculpture. Parts of it starts to melt and he is inside it. He does not remember it happening. Every day he must turn into an Ice Statue for 2 hours, which count as 8 hours rest. Hardness of 5 with fire vulnerability

We head to city of Sigil where we meet up with our next contact Hormorithorm. He samples our trade goods and agrees they are nice. Gives us the names of several people we could do business with such as Mortisha at the Eye of the Dragon in Plague-Mort, Moralien at the Gymnasium of Steam in Ribcage, Orin in Glorium and finally Mortimor who lives in Xaos on the edge of the plane of Limbo who regularly changes his names and is possibly not very dependable.

We head out to meet up with our next contact who is supposed to guide us to these people only to wait around in a room for a while before Zimb gets tired of waiting and opens a closest door to discover a dead body. Of course it’s just at that moment some guards burst in accusing us all of murder. Quickly thinking on Michaela’s part as he plays up his newfound ability and feigns a heart attack dying. The guards round us all up for murder, except for Michaela who is brought to their morgue and stored in a coffin awaiting burial.

We meet with two different high priced lawyers and agreed on having Corvain take our case. Before the judge we are found not guilty of murder due to lack of evidence but are still banished from the city of Sigil forever, all except Michaela who wasn’t tried for the crime and whose body the party asked to have returned.

Corvain hired a guide for us who took us to meet with Orin in Ribcage. Orin recognized Amuka’s fathers name and his newly founded mercantile band called the Dirgeflame Consortium. He agreed to trade his fabulous scrimshaw with Ravens Bluff through Amuka’s fathers company IF the Midnight Menagerie would come and deal with a group of people who were interrupting his fishing operations. The group agrees and are carried back to Ravens Bluff by a Viking ship which can travel through the realms it seems. Once there we inform Lady DeVillars and the Mayor of our arrangement.

Discussion/Side note: This mission ending was narrated by Joe/DM due to players choices made to use certain large quantities of Hero Points to achieve super saiyan like abilities at terrible prices in order to make sure the Orb reached it’s destination safely.

Mission Objective: Take the Orb of Protection to the surface and someone named Charles O’Cain

There be Demons:
As you stare at the Demon Lord in front of you and the horde of abyssal spawn behind you Lord Omegasun says, “Don’t worry, I got this!!!”. As he charges the titan-like demon you hear the sound of breaking glass and he leaps into the air. Brilliant griffon wings sprout from is back as he leaps at the Demon Lord. Grabbing it’s upper arms and putting one foot to it’s chest he drops backward hurling the demon into the horde behind you. He quickly recovers and charges the fallen fiend. As he runs past you he calls, “Aren’t you suppose to be running!?!”

Before he gets to the horde a cute little dolly jumps from his belt and begins to run alongside him. With a blink of the eye there is no doll. On is right is Ellistree. On his left is the Red Knight. The three dive into the horde killing with abandon. Before you even had a chance to react the Demon Lord was banished and his horde slaughtered. Omega gives one last glance over his shoulder at all of you.

With a bellowing battle cry he and his ladies go running deeper into the Underdark. As they leave you hear the Red Knight joyfully say “this really is tactically unsound.” With a laugh Ellistree responds, “to hell with tactics, this is going to be fun.” And then they’re gone.

No Time for Good-byes:
Just as they disappear down the tunnel you hear a beautiful voice that sings, " Oh dear Pimfire, it’s time." With that a small coin flips out of his pocket landing on the ground not on kisses or hugs but on it’s edge.

Pimfire with a very fake smile takes a golden sword from his bag strapping it to his belt and walks up to Clearice. “By your knight’s oath I charge you with getting this letter and bag to Lady Blacktree and should you fall let the next knight take up the task.”

Pimfire then approaches Xavier handing him a small bag. “Be sure my daughter gets this.” No other words need spoken between them. With time running short Pimfire rushes to the coin, picks it up, and vanishes.

The 1st House and the Army of Nykhandthar:
Thousands of drow soldiers marching forward. Hundreds of drow spellcasters marching forward. Dozens of the Priestesses of Lolth with the most terrible of magics marching forward. And one little halfling with a golden harp in middle of it all.

Ready for such an intrusion the drow respond like lightning. Hundreds of poisoned crossbow bolts and magical missiles, dozens of horrible rays of destruction and even more foul magic lance out from every direction at the poor little halfing. Just before they strike he pulls a single harp cord and begins to sing. TIMESTOPS

The song is a tale of sad little fellow who fought to survive and succeed in life only to find that he was lost until he was found. What he thought was important as a young man meant so little now. In the company of heroes that he grew to love the little halfing saved the world a time or two, became a father, and met the most beautiful creature in all of creation.

The tale goes on for what seems like hours. The little halfing’s voice grows horse and his fingers bleed from playing with so much fervor. The drow don’t move but the halfing knows his story is coming to an end.

Meanwhile:
Lord Omega, his Ladies, and a multitude of Ellae’s Guardian Angels having run for an hour slaughtering all in their wake come to the front line of the Drow army. They’re frozen like statues begging to be smashed. It’s a bad day to be a Drow. Omega and his companions cleave, slash, and hack with relish.

What’s a High Priestess without a Head:
Eyes closed, the little halfling sings his last note and collapses to the ground completely exhausted. What’s that? He’s not dead? As he looks up there’s his old friend Omega with the headless body of the priestess of the 1st house at his feet. A giant of a woman clad in deep red mail and a black beauty with long glistening silver hair step up on either side of the Lord of Ravens Bluff. In unison each kisses him on a cheek, Omega give the little halfling a wink, and they’re gone.

Hey, that’s mine:
Among the carnage sits the little halfling as Ellae’s Archons continue to slaughter the now fleeing drow. There on the ground. What’s that? A coin. Reaching for it with the last of his strength the little halfling’s world becomes full of light. So bright it burns his eyes. Is that the sun?

IN the next twelve hours the rest are hindered by the God of Goblins who gets away but they keep rushing and hundreds of oozes which are wiped out with the last of the groups magic and the remaining players come out into the sunlight (mid-afternoon) they see two things. A collapsed halfling being held up by a dark gnome (svirfneblin)

Dalarn spends a hero point. Everything goes dim and a large something passes over head creating a shadow. Up in the sky we see a living shadow in the form of a dragon. Clearice uses airwalk on Dalarn who flies up and the two of them fight in the air in a huge brawl back and forth overhead the city of Ravens Bluff.

The rest of us get to Ravens Bluff with the orb. (I am fatigued and not exhausted). No spells left/charges per day. As we rush into the city we see Dalarn and the Negative Energy Dragon until finally it disappears and Dalarn without an Air Walk falls and hits the ground with a crunch in the middle of the temple distract and he’’ given a breath of life by a nearby cleric.

We are met by a huge contingent of knights and lords who take us to the Mayor Lord Charles O’Cain. The Lady Catherine was kidnapped but we aren’t sure what happened to her.

I, Pimfire, approach lady Blacktree and hand her husbands package. She cries and rushes out knowing the truth at least. We got the Orb to Lord Mayor Charles O’Cain. He says the ministry of Art has been able to determine that when the Heart of Bane is destroyed it will create a bad backlash and we had best destroy it in the Abyss and possibly corrupt the abyss further but at least not corrupt the prime. They have gotten a gate opened and ready for us but it can’t wait as the shielding magic can’t hold much longer.

Charles and their Knights escort us. We are informed about a cult of Cyrus who was cleared out by our low-level toons the Twilight Menagerie.

We make it to the ministry and flying up in the air are two boxes lock in eternal struggle it’s HK vs. Arch Enemy

In the basement we see Penelope a high ranking ministry of the arts. She is seated with a golden box encased in a force field and huge reflective mirror going through images of the Abyss. She says “it’s about time and turn the orb on in the present of the heart and it should cancel each other out and shouldn’t kill you but no telling what it can do around you and might effect the weave it’s unknown.” The mirror will take us to a layer of the abyss but we have to choose.

Lolth layer – we vote 3 on this side
Graz’zt Layer
Lord of Death Orcus Layer
Son of Bane Layer

We acknowledge that it might actually might Lolth more powerful and agree to change our votes to take it to the Son of Bane

Dalarn is warned about how handling the heart of bane can have an effect on your sanity. He picks it up with both of his hands (takes two hands to hold). We go through the mirror and find ourselves in the abyss hopefully in the right place.

We get a strange feeling we are not alone and its scorched red stone. We can see where Xavier is standing smoke is rising up from his footprint. We see very large bird like creature dancing around a huge stone column (100 ft high) and standing up against it is a black skin humanoid with 6 arms, 3 legs and horns like a ram. This is obviously ….. the Large Vrocks continue to dance.

The Svirfneblin – not supposed to be here what the heck
Pimfire – Start recording the dance moves
Xavier – waiting on Dalarn
Dalarn – drops the box and starts to open it and says, “Activate the orb!”
Ellae – Just waits

We hear a whisper of offers of power and wealth and can become a god from the Heart of Bane. The Vrocks stop and look at us. Xavier activates the orb of protection and a huge brilliant light. We hear the sound of pounding feet of something gigantic is charging at us (actual deity not an avatar). He stops drops to his knees and screams NO FATHERWHATHAVEYOUDONE! And his body is rend in two and hands emerge from his chest as he splits down middle. A humanoid figure steps out of him and has no arms grins “I am returned”

Then we are transported back to the ministry of Art.

Sir Gregory a knight of Torm bursts into the room with a message “Torm says order has been restored” His son was just a vessel to bring him back and now the balance of the multiverse is restored. This does not mean we weren’t victorious and have saved all of Faerun and the Prime won’t be sucked into the Abyss and the Heavens obliterated. It came at great price to us and ours but sometimes mortals need to sacrifice to preserve their way of life. There is an important message. The Gods must live in a balance of good and evil but does not extend to man. In the days to come we shall be challenged even further to tip the scale towards good forever. We are asked to do what the Gods command.

THISENDSTHEUNDERDARKCAMPAIGN

REWARDS

Statues of Lord Blacktree and Lord Omegasun are erected in Temple Square.

An annual civic holiday is declared to commemorate them and all those who sacrificed there lives in the Underdark.

Surviving members gain the following template from the gods:
• Ability Score Racial Traits: gain +2 Charisma.
• Type: outsiders with the native subtype.
• Celestial Resistance: acid resistance 5, cold resistance 5, and electricity resistance 5.
• Skilled: +2 racial bonus on Diplomacy and Perception checks.
• Spell-Like Ability (Sp): use daylight once per day as a spell-like ability (caster level equal to the character level).
• Darkvision: Darkvision 60 ft. or +10 ft. if you already have Darkvision. (you get 60 IF you don’t already have it)

Clearice:
Halo – ability to manifest halos. Can create light centered on her head at will as a spell-like ability. When using her halo, she gains a +2 circumstance bonus on Intimidate checks against evil creatures and on saving throws against becoming blinded or dazzled.

Dalarn:
Celestial Crusader – gain a +1 insight bonus on attack rolls and to AC against evil outsiders and a +2 racial bonus on Knowledge (planes) and Spellcraft checks to identify evil outsiders or items or effects created by evil outsiders; may use these skills untrained for this purpose.

Xavier:
Deathless Spirit – gain resistance 5 against negative energy damage. You do not lose hit points when you gain a negative level, and you gain a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against death effects, energy drain, negative energy, and spells or spell-like abilities of the necromancy school.

Pimfire:
Truespeaker – +2 bonus on Linguistics and Sense Motive checks, can speak/understand any spoken language, and learns to read/write two languages for each rank in Linguistics.

Mission Objective: Take the Orb of Protection to the surface and someone named Charles O’Cain

The horde pursed them as they fled down the main tunnel leading back to the surface. Pimfire’s flying spectral horses helped them start with a big head start, but Xavier was unable to mount one it seemed the Orb of Protection couldn’t be transported that way so he was forced to ride Shadow who could keep up with the speed but not FLY like the rest of the group. Still this cut their travel time from 3 days down to 2 days to the surface. Not long out of Ravens Deep just as they pass a junction that leads to a pool of water with healing powers the group spots a huge ghostly dragon, which swooped down from above and blocks their path. It looks like the ghost of the deep dragon they slew when they first ventured down into the Underdark.

Rushing through it rather than stopping to fight they are hit with an icy chill and Pimfire, Omega and Ellae age rapidly. Xavier aged as well but due to that potion of youthfulness, he drank a while ago only seems to make him a couple years older. Dalarn and Clearice were able to avoid the ghostly aging through immunities.

Safely past the ghostly dragon, they have to stop for Pimfire to recast his mystical mounts and hear the howls of the advanced horde chasing them. Ellae and Dalarn manage to put up walls of ice to slow the pursuit while Clearice cleverly places a blade barrier right behind it so when they break through they will rush into a blender of death.

As the group pushes onwards, they hear the ice break behind them followed by screams of anguish over the trick played upon them. Laughing they keep moving forward knowing that bought them precious moments. After 3 more hours of flight and another recasting of the mount spell they round a corridor and see a horde spanning hundreds of feet with nothing but the undead of the Malphagorians blocking their path.

Dalarn tosses a potion of Flight to Xavier for Shadow to drink since he was unable to ride upon a mystical steed while carrying the Orb of Protection. The group attempts to fly over but Shadow’s potion does not seem to work while Xavier is carrying the Orb of Protection and instead the group is forced to rain destruction own upon the horde. Clearice channels a pathway as Omega throws a Ioun Stone enchanted with a very powerful acid dweomer nearly destroying everything except for 3 special undead, 2 of which are in heavy armor.

Xavier and Shadow deal with the remaining skeletons, which surround them as the rest of the group takes on these Malphagorians. Ellae realizes the horde has caught up to us. Then throws a holy destruction spell at the leader of the Malphagorians who was a lich and he crumbles to dust. With its collapse the remaining 2 undead warriors collapse opening the way to continue fleeing which the group does, now on foot as several of the magic horses died in a blast. Omega picked up Pimfire and ran. This gave Pimfire several minutes to re-summons his flying mounts and the group slowly got ahead of the pursing troll army.

Now riding with Omega, Pimfire stared dumbfounded as they came upon a shimmering curtain blocking their path a few hours later. Omega dismounted and managed to sunder the curtain only to show another behind it. Only guessing the Orb of Protection might keep him safe Xavier stepped through and sure enough he was unharmed but we finally realized the curtains would drain our magical powers and with 4 more layers left Pimfire magically teleported the group to the other side and called his horses to walk through the curtains. As the group remounted, they saw the Trolls coming up from behind again.

Before the group could rush off several strange flying creatures appear blinking in and out of the Astral Plane, behind them stood 3 Illithids chanting. Quickly throwing a special Fireball Pimfire hoped to disrupt their summoning. Ellae followed suit with a Lightning blast but to no avail. With a rumble the ground burst and a gargantuan mutated purple worm swallowed Xavier and Shadow whole!

In retribution Clearice blasts one of the Illithids with a Rod of Thunder killing it but not breaking the hold on the Worm. Ellae then says something and starts to glow. White light plays around her and suddenly bursts in a shine of radiance, in her place is a giant Solar with a Leonine head. Breathing fire down upon the worm the Solar summons angels from the dancing flames as the worm screams in pain and dies the angels rush the remaining Illithids and put an end to them. Xavier and Shadow seem hurt, confused but able to keep going. The group stumbles forward as the angels turn around and handle the Troll army.

As we pass a bend in the tunnel a ghostly Ellae is waiting for us, Omega halts long enough to speak with her and finds she is still able to follow along in her spirit form. The group sad over her death but glad of her help and continued help push onwards.

At the end of a full day of travel, exhausted the group keeps going but Pimfire is unable to summon anymore magical flying mount so it’s all on foot except Xavier riding a very tired Shadow.

6 hours into day 2 of the escape from the Underdark the drow manage to finally catch up. 14 Driders block the way forward as lizard riding drow come up from behind. Dalarn, Shadow and Xavier engage the Driders many of whom carry ballista sized crossbows. Spectral Ellae throws a Chain Lightning at the drow killing the lizards and harming many of the drow. Omega shouts for everyone to run and charges at the drow priestess in the rear. Before Pimfire knows what is going on he is hit with a series of magical spells and is knocked out. Clearice manages to position herself to keep Shadow, Xavier and Pimfire alive while Omega quickly kills both drow priestess in a series of swings spanning a few seconds. The drow wizard steps forward and does something so he’s only partially on our plane but capable of hitting omega with spells while he can’t return attacks. Calling upon Eilistraee’s blessing however Omega’s sword shines with brilliant energy and the drow wizard is surprised as it connects with his body cutting him clean in half!

Dalarn kills off the bulk of the Driders except for the archers who after witnessing Omega and Dalarn flee to perhaps come and attack again who knows. Fearing more drow the group push onwards after quickly healing up Omega, Xavier, Shadow and Pimfire who took the worst of this encounter.

Now as the group nears the exit of the Underdark a Giant Winged Demon the likes of which none have seen before block their way as several demons lead by a Marilith decked in very powerful magical gear, which killed Pimfire once before, grins in glee over the thought of killing them all.

REWARDS

Possibly keeping everyone from being sucked down into the Abyss but to be revealed at the end of the mission

Discussion/Side note: Character ages where brought up along with a new Hero Point Sheet was posted in our game with everyone having 1 extra hero point for making it this far.

Mission Objective: Retrieve the Orb of Protection from its hiding place

Therefore, it has finally come down to war with the drow. As the group marches with the 57th regiment to invade the drow city their commander orders them to wait in a small cavern alone. Minutes after being left there Lord Blacktree arrives and gives the Menagerie the task of retrieving the Orb of Protection as this entire war is nothing but a big diversion. He urges the group to hurry as speed is of the essence since others are also looking for the Orb and he doesn’t know how long he can keep the drow occupied. With that he reveals the Orb of Protection is hidden on the Isle of Jergal where the group had to travel into a dead zone to retrieve some moss to save the Svirfneblin King from a rare and deadly poison.

Pimfire summoned magical flying steeds for the group to hurry them on their way to the Sea of Eternal Night to meet up with Captain Scorn who yet again was to take them to the Isle of Jergal. Clearice assists the ship by controlling the wind to help them get their as quickly as possible. Upon arrival the group sees several fleets from various factions surrounding the dead island and fighting over who will land first, Drow, Duergar and Illithids are all present along with an assortment of other monsters from the Underdark.

The group lands upon the main island avoiding the conflict to speak with Januspar the high priest of Jergal and gain permission to land on the dead isle. Januspar only spoke with Dalarn and Ellae for the rest of the group had already had their names placed in the book of the dead at some time in the past. Dalarn gains permission but is asked to write his own name down in the Book of the Dead, a strange honor and yet troublesome to see as he writes the following:

Son of Conloch and Isabold, Brother to Gethfrik, Honored of Clan Earthfast, Friend to Clan Brightsword, Savior of Clan Glimmering Sword, Alaghor of Clangeddin, Defender of Ravens Bluff, and Knight of the Griffon.

Permission gained the group travels to the dead isle and there are greeted by the spirits of the dwarven Clan Brightaxe returned to fight against the evil hordes. Dalarn sees the specter of the Brightaxe weapon master who once asked him to become their new weapon master and tells him he thinks it may be time to take up that offer. They manage to clear a path as we see several Aboleths are amazingly controlling the Illithids.

Upon the island Midael the dwarven Solar greets the party and informs them of the protection that was placed to conceal and keep safe the Orb of Protection. He then offers to go first and take down that protection and provide the group with a shield to protect them against the islands invasion for a few minutes giving them time to retrieve the orb. He blesses the party before doing so.

With the shield of protection down and the force field up the group rushes in and quickly debates who should pick up the Orb of Protection, Xavier finally does and feels like it is right and fitting he carry it for Torm!

Now the group watches as outside the small field the horde of drow, duergar and Aboleths wait to pounce. Realizing they have no safe way off the island and are unable to teleport the Orb they watch and wait in horror. Just when the protective shield Midael created with his last breath is about to fail a beautiful female form appears with silver hair flowing down her back it is none other than Simbul, a chosen of Mystra. She casts a powerful spell which lashes out in bright colors all around and time stops the area, buying time to cast a gate spell for the group to rush through. As the group does so they witness Aboleths leap upon Simbul before the gate closes behind.

They find themselves in Ravens Deep as the drow have pushed back the invasion and now prepare to siege Ravens Deep in return. Lord Blacktree is glad the Orb of Protection is obtained but is weary of all the bloodshed he has witnessed in the past several days. He charges Pimfire with a package to be given to Lady Blacktree as he does not think he will survive the drow horde he plans to hold off to buy us time to make it to the surface. He mentions the 4th drow house was reduced to nothing in the attack as our allies were turned upon by Lolth’s minions.

Charged with bringing the orb to Charles O’Cain on the surface and that nothing else matters but seeing the Heart of Bane destroyed the group takes their leave of the city. Just as they make it out they hear a loud crash and watch in horror as the drow horde of monsters rush into Ravens Deep killing everyone. Lord Blacktree is seen making a last stand in a duel against the First Houses Matron Mother and with a flash of purple light she cuts off Lord Blacktree’s Head and his soul is sucked into her blade. Pimfire screams in rage and sorrow and vows to free his soul. Summoning his mystic steeds the group sets out with a drow army hot on their heels knowing every evil creature down here is going to try to block their path.

REWARDS

Possibly keeping everyone from being sucked down into the Abyss but to be revealed at the end of the mission

Discussion/Side note: Low levels being at level 5 they are now expected to make deposits to the treasury and can get revived by it, remove items (up to certain reasonable levels of power) and such all that jazz. Further Details will be discussed at a later time.

Mission Objective: Sneak inside the second drow house and plant bombs and a red disc portal generator in the noble living quarters without being caught.

The Midnight Menagerie is briefed by their commander on how the second drow house has fallen into disfavor with Lolth for allowing the escape of several followers of Eilistraee. Pimfire asks about any passwords they might need to know to be shown instead some hand signals to use in the event we are questioned at a guard post. The group is warned to avoid the Matron Mother who still has all her powers and the true power of the second house which is her wizard sons the most powerful of which may be in residence.

The group is tasked with planting the red disc anywhere inside the underground living quarters and given a map of the above ground areas which appear in the shape of a pentagram with guard posts and walls between each area. The group decides the best course is to enter through the stables area where deliveries are made and make their way around to the slaves holding area, then to the temple and arriving at the guest quarters before attempting to make entrance into the nobles underground living quarters. Feeling it too risky to try and bluff their way into the barracks they craft a demonic shield to encase one of the bombs with the intention of passing to someone to give to the House Commander who most likely stays in the Barracks area and will place it there for them.

Basically this is the order of encounters chosen by the group:

Area 5 Stables – Area 11 Guard House – Area 4 Slave Pens – Area 11 Guard House – Area 1 Temple – Area 11 Guard House – Area 9 Guest House – Area 11 Guard House – Area 14 The Great Structure

Below is a summary of places, encounters at each, bomb placement, along with the Red Disc final Location:

Area 5: Stables
• Description: These square buildings are 60 ft. on a side, and by the sounds and smells coming from them you are confident you have found the riding lizard stables.
• Encounter: Clearice, disguised as a drow priestess, intimidated a drow guard into passing along the demonic shield to the House Commander with instructions to find someone who does have access to that area if he did not. Xavier approached the stables hoping to plant a bomb unnoticed only to be given a tour by the Stable Master as Clearice glared at him to do so without question. Shown the Mithral Plating of the lizard mounts he was able to push a bomb into the stables muck area.
• Bomb Placement: Planted in lizard muck by Xavier

Area 4: Slave Pens
• Description: These triangular buildings have iron bar doors. From where you stand, you can see a large verity of beings, dwarves, goblins, hobgoblins, and even a hill giant. By the dead look in their eyes you can tell that they are slaves.
• Encounter: Passing through a guard location with no trouble the group arrived to the slave pens. Once here Bill approached and requested a tour of the slaves and during the tour was able to slip a bomb unnoticed into one of the slave pens.
• Bomb Placement: Bomb planted in a slave pen by Bill

Area 1: Temple
• Description: This is a squat pyramid shaped building. The top third of its point is made of a translucent glass that seems to glow with an inner light. There appears to be only one entrance, a set of doors that are made of a strange dark metal.
• Encounter: The group was stopped by guards from one of the Area 11: Guard Houses when attempting to enter and Ellae flashed correct hand signal they were given to gain safe passage. Ellae and Clearice head inside the temple and encounter demonic forces but manage to evade detection, Meanwhile Dalarn convinces Omega that it’s best to plant the bomb at the top of the temple on the outside if he wants to do the most damage. Omega climbs the far side of the pyramid like structure so no guards can see him thanks to Dalarn’s quick warning. Pimfire keeps watch for anyone while Omega uses Torch Tar to fix the bomb to the top of the pyramid before descending quietly.
• Bomb Placement: Bomb planted on the outside of the top of the temple by Omega as per Dalarn’s instruction to maximize the damage to the structure.

Area 9: Guest House
• Description: This building is a short dome-shaped building with a single door on the south side.
• Encounter: As the group enters this area they encounter the House Commander who thanks Clearice for the demonic shield gift and forces her to bluff she is from Menzoberranzan visiting, this secures her a room in the guest quarters. Dalarn is given a proper entrance brooch (magical one). Inside the quarters Pimfire hides his bomb in the bathroom plumbing hoping to do some serious damage and cause the most mayhem. The group then chooses to head to the Great Structure and finish the mission quickly before any further risky encounters might occur or their credentials get looked at deeper.
• Bomb Placement: Bomb planted, by Pimfire, in the plumbing of the rooms Clearice got us assigned.

Area 14: the Great Structure
• Description: This pentagon shaped structure is easily the largest building in the walls. It is 25 ft. high and covered by a thick layer of black stone. There are five doors one on each side of the building.
• Encounter: The group makes it inside as Dalarn’s Brooch may have done the trick, inside they find a large chamber filled with a mist and with Ellae using some magic to keep it back enter. Inside the group is unable to see much and attempts to skirt the edges all the while there is a buzzing/humming sound that slowly gets louder and starts to effect the group. Finally a voice intrudes upon the group able to see through their disguises easily. Omega chats with the creature to find it’s a Quasit which warns of very large Sturge like creatures here. Dalarn hands him the coin he was given by Graz’zt in payment for safe passage. The Quasit greedily takes the evil enchanted coin with glee. He lures the creatures away and the group manages to find the stone covering the entrance to the second lower floor but not before Dalarn succumbs to the buzzing sound and passes out. Once down they encounter some drow who allow passage until they come to a library. Here Pimfire finds a magical tome on domination and takes it while Omega distracts those in the library with his Dalarn floating puppet act (kind of like a “weekend at Bernie’s” thing). The rest of the group hides the Disc deep in the stacks of the library. Make their way to an empty room and use their planar tokens to escape to Brightwater.
• Disc Placement: Disc placed in the library

Area 6: Drow Barracks
• Description: This building is large and more fortified than the rest of the outer buildings. Ten drow patrol the grounds around the building.
• Bomb Placement: Bomb planted as a disguised Demonic Shield and given to the House Commander as a trophy by Clearice.

Area 11. Guard House
• Description: These irregularly shaped buildings have two entrances on either side of the building. Six drow patrol the grounds around the area.
• Bomb Placement: None deemed far too risky.

The group eventually arrives in Brightwater for two days of rest and relaxation, which on the Prime Material Plane is only a few hours. Once this time passes they travel back to Ravens Deep and inform Lord Blacktree of their missions success. They are brought up to speed on the other group’s success only to hear that Hathmar Blademark group has not returned, meaning Mok is missing in action. They are informed that their part in this war is done for he has a more important task for the Midnight Menagerie, which is to retrieve the Orb of Protection when they attack the city.

LC5-134-HUD14-Part 2

Mission Objective: Sneak inside the drow city and plant bombs and a red disc portal generator in the Trade District without being caught. Played our low levels the Twilight Menagerie.

The Twilight Menagerie set out from the ruined drow house on their mission to set bombs throughout the city of Nykhandthandar trade district with the ultimate goal of placing the red portal disc somewhere in the second floor of the master of trade house situated in the center of the marketplace.

Prior to leaving Zimb managed to get 10,000 gp worth of gem chips in case we needed to bribe any officials and the group is told about a potential ally of the 4th drow house who may help out if we get into trouble.

Along the way, the group avoids the drow patrols and upon arriving at the marketplace see, it is very busy. A slave auction draws a huge crowd along with the Twilight Menagerie. The auctioneer it seems is an Illithid and has a pet dragon with Smokey black scales in a golden collar. Zimb along with Veth manage to plant a bomb below the stage of the auction house while the rest of the group witness everything from a human, gold elf female, svirfneblin and a dwarf from clan Brightsword. With no way to outbid and not draw attention, the group is unable to save any of these from their fates.

Further, into the marketplace the group encounters a Duero (evil deep gnome) who manages to sell at a huge discount various items to the group. Amuka bought a ring of force shield, HK bought a belt of giant strength and Michaela bought a pair of scorching ray eyeballs. The Duero acting shifty then quickly packed up his stall and fled the marketplace. Later Zimb finds a bookstall and buys a pop-up book of undead creatures only to then encounter a strange woman who sells him a statue, which is shrunk down into a patch for 3 days before it will revert. It seems the statue is that of someone from Ravens Bluff and is most likely a Flesh to Stone like effect upon them.

As they get closer to the center of the marketplace, the group encounters a Drow Noble of the 5th house who accuses them of stealing his rightfully purchased items from the Duero. The evil deep gnome sold the group items he had already sold to the drow. Amuka and HK hand over the items they had purchased while Michaela refused. While the drow and Michaela argue over ownership HKs attention was solely focused upon another of his kind that the drow had accompanying him. It turns out to be his arch nemesis/opposite DG-8-11. They then get into a Brawl with Drow encouraging DG-8-11. Amuka and Bill take the opportunity to plant bombs as a crowd gathers creating a great distraction. Amuka plants a bomb in the sewers and Bill manages to put one into a potted plant only to have the owner of the plant notice and think it’s some sort of flirtation.

As the fight wears on Amuka runs off to fetch the trade master while guards arrive and detain the rest of the group at the Drow Nobles command when HK-58 is knocked out by DG-8-11. Arriving back to the scene with the Trade Master the group is detained, except for Bill who managed to avoid notice during the entire scene, and brought to the Trade Masters building and up to the second floor. When hope seems lost for the group in walks a Red Wizard of Thay and not just any but the old Ravens Bluff diplomatic emissary who previously attempted to kill the Lady Mayor and was banished.

It seems this must be the ally that was promised for he creates enough of a distraction to allow Veth to plant the red disc underneath the Trade Masters own desk before getting the group freed into his custody. Once outside he tells the group to say “Hello” to the Lady Mayor on his behalf and disappears into the crowd. Quickly making their way back to the ruined drow house the group arrives to inform their commander they had successfully planted three bombs and the red disc.

They are then sent to the shores of Brightwater for 2 days of rest and relaxation which on the prime material plane would only amount to a few hours. There they enjoy the attention of angels and other angelic like beings feasting and drinking. It is here the Zimb uses the patch to release the statue and have one of the Solar’s reverse the stone curse to find a long Lost Knight of Ravens Bluff.

Rewards

Stop using XP and are now 5th level for our low levels

The Number of game sessions for our low levels to level up is now equal to the new level.Example: To reach 6th level will require 6 sessions, 7th level will require 7 sessions. etc.

The Noble of the Drow 5th house was assassinated by our allies of the Fourth House and will be eventually returned to the Twilight Menagerie at the completion of the mission.

Discussion/Side note: We are approaching the end of the Underdark series; as such, they are becoming incredibly lethal. If we fail to retrieve the orb of protection we will have to live with the consequences of such. We are given, as much time as needed to complete this mission, do not worry about how many game sessions it may take.

Mission Objective: : To infiltrate the city of Nykhandthandar and plant as many bombs as we can along with a red summoning disc at our target location. They must go undetected for at least 24 hours to give troops time to prepare before they invade through them. This mission involves more then one group so we will be using both our high levels as well as our low levels for this.

Game Summary as per Pimfire:

It started out in Raven’s Deep where Lord Blacktree announced to the people that with the drow invasion looming it was decided we would counter strike and attack Nykhandthandar before they could march upon us since we would be outnumbered if they attacked, surprise would be our only advantage against superior numbers.

Four groups of adventurers chosen to infiltrate the drow city and plant bombs and summoning discs at key locations that must remain undetected for at least 24 hours. At no point should we engage in combat or blow our cover, to that effect various clothing of disguise and tools were handed to each of us to enable us a chance at pulling this at. Greater Hats of Disguise, Dust of Disappearance and a red pill in case things went south that would at least make our end swift so we couldn’t be tortured for information were prominent.

Groups / Targets given

Group 1: Midnight Menagerie – House E’Dyllym, the Second House

Group 2: Hobbittino Family – Fighters’ School

Group 3: Twilight Menagerie – Market Place and Slave Pens

Group 4: Hathmaar Blademark & Friends – School of Magic

We would get further information once we traveled through the Astral Plane to arrive at the remains of the destroyed seventh house of Nykhandthandar as to the exact location to place the red discs at our targets locations.

With our targets chosen, we prepared our disguises:

Midnight Menagerie Disguises – based on pretending to be slavers/slaves

Pimfire – Drow Wizard, piwafwi worn

Clearice – Drow female warrior, with a low-level priestess ability

Omega – Half-Orc Slave/Bodyguard, wearing chains with movement

Dalarn – Duergar Guard

Xavier – Drow Warrior

Ellae –

Twilight Menagerie Disguises – based on pretending to be merchants/guards/shoppers

Amuka – Merchant Mongrel who does poorly at business

Zimb (Omega) – Drow Wizard

Veth – In a summoning cage familiar for Zimb’s Drow Wizard

HK-58 (Clearice) – Duergar Warrior

Michaela – Kobold slave assist to mongrel merchant

As the other groups prepare we see the Hobbittino Family (Halflings) dressed in impeccable suits pull out, what appears to be portable holes, unfold them, and then a small army of Halflings step out of some carriages and jump into them. Once done the leader and his men fold the holes up and put them in their pockets like they were handkerchiefs.

Mok who was there for the briefing informs us this may be the last time he sees us and then casts a spell to teleport somewhere. As the other groups step into the Astral Plane portal we await our turn only to see what appears to be a minotaur looking exactly like Eilistraee appear beside Omega and whisper something in a blink disappear again. We questioned him about what she said and he informed us that on the prime material plane, Lolth cannot really reach us but in places like the Astral, she could send her minions after us.

We step into the portal, arrive in the astral plane and orient ourselves based upon sight of the Hobbitino’s we see ahead of us. We know they are 15 minutes ahead based upon the intervals we all departed from. Some weird streaks of blackness we see in the distance and Clearice shouts out a warning of a Dragon! Suddenly we make out the Ancient/Great Wyrm Shadow Dragon we tangled with while defending Kandelspire.

In a quick pass, it spews a cloud of darkness, which blinded and drained Xavier and myself of our strength. Without any strength, Xavier was unable to lift his bow. Nevertheless, Xavier refused to flee and stood with the rest of the group to fight knowing we had at least 15 minutes of travel left we would never make it. I kept going for the exit unable to lift my arms to help.

Dalarn’s Axes seem to hurt the foul dragon. Omega actually ran away at this point as the dragon bellowed in rage. Clearice realized it might be vulnerable to the holiness of Dalarn’s Axes and chose to channel positive energy at it. This caused a huge explosion that hurt both it and Clearice flinging them away from each other.

Now the Dragon decided to switch tactics and keep his distance doing strafing runs at the group. It stays out of range of Clearice’s magic and Dalarn’s axes all the while attempting to destroy them with powerful enchantments and its breath attacks. With a bit of luck they manage to survive these attempts.

Finally, my vision restored I was able to see the problem. Then I realized I could do one thing that might change the tide of this battle. I cast dimension door to bring myself back to my friends since that only required my voice something I could still use. Dalarn and I waited for the Dragon’s next pass where I then teleported us both onto its back. Dalarn was able to use his axes all he wanted while riding the Dragon finally defeating the creature and sending it back to whatever shadow dimension it came from. I know we did not finish it off fully enough to destroy such an Ancient and Powerful dragon but for now, it will not be troubling anyone.

We made our way to the portal and arrived at the seventh house of Nykhandthandar. Finally catching up to the other groups already there, we meet our contacts who managed to reverse the dragon’s breath effects on us, restoring us to our full selves albeit weaker in magic. It was then I chose to cast a spell I had a friend of Mok teach my ring of spell knowledge to prevent scrying attempts against us. Once done our contacts then gave the Twilight Menagerie further directions to the marketplace, where they are to meet with the Master of Trade on the

I remember we all just stood there for what felt like hours. Talking, Yelling, Shouting out Ideas on what the heck was going on. Standing on a giant chess board as chess pieces staring across at monsters that are still as statues not moving. We all knew the moment someone moved they would respond in kind. The question was how where we going to get to take out their King Piece without some of us dying. Also it seemed Omega was not responding but standing stunned. We were not sure if he even got teleported/transported or whatever the heck was done to us that brought us to this time and place along with us.

Shadow & Dalarn are Knights

Pimfire & Xavier are Rooks

Clearice & Ellae are Bishops

Omega is the King

Finally I took the plunge and moved, in response so did one of the enemies pawns. After that we kept taking a turn or moving based upon a group consensus until we had gotten ourselves into a horrible situation where I was the only one able to keep Omega (our king) from being taken by the enemy queen (a Marilith). In return Shadow managed to put their King in check during which the enemy queen made a move against me and despite my bravery severed my head from my body in one quick rush of blows. It seemed the standard rules of being in check didn’t apply. That or they didn’t care. Shadow stepped forth and attacked their King quickly defeating him.

Have you ever fallen from an impossible height for what felt like eternity all the while your head is staring straight at your body from about 5 feet away from it? New Experiences are fun and enlightening but I wouldn’t care to repeat that one. Suffice to say when we won the board fell out from under us and we went along on another astral projected fun ride throughout the Abyss.

Suddenly we are on a large chamber with a Dias and our gear is before us. Statues of Driders decorate the place along with artwork of Lolth and her minions. Out of the shadows appear a stunning drow female in high robes with armor beneath it. Of course who else but Eilistraee and with a passionate kiss wraps her arms around Omega and whisks him away to what I can only assume was another night of passion leaving us standing there stunned in what is obviously Lolth’s throne room of all places.

We quickly put our gear on. Not a moment too soon as spiders pour out from everywhere and a sense of evil power grows until a breathtakingly beautiful drow female appears on the throne. We can feel her hate from her gaze, gee I wonder who this could be, Yup Lolth. We are all unable to meet her gaze only Xavier seems able to meet it as he looks at her defiantly. Talk about Brave, or stupid.

She addresses us finally and says something along the lines of “You are as lowly to me as Gnats. However even they can get under the skin and be irritating and need to be dealt with then.” She blames us for breaking her rules and killing her minions and spiders and defiling temples and such. Then she tells us our actions could not go without punishment and looks at Xavier. Not only does he have a tattoo from a drow house marking him as an enemy to most drow but he is standing there just meeting her gaze showing no indication of bowing or subservience that is usually given to her royal arachnidic highness. So she says “You couldn’t be so foolish to enter here, and we have an eternity for me to teach you.”

All I know is she moved up to him, there was the sound of someone getting slapped and Xavier went down like a sack of potatoes. What does my BOY do? he gets back UP! Looks her in the eyes again! lightly touches the permanent hand print she left on his face and says with no malice “is that all you got?”

Now it’s about at this point a sensations of power comes flooding back to most of us and we realize we didn’t have any magical or divine power. With a flash one of Dalarn’s dwarven priests appears behind me and tells him this fight isn’t for him, touches him on the shoulders and whoosh! he’s Planar shifted presumably to Ravens Bluff and the safety of his bed and a tavern. I do this thing where I believe Clearice could just Planar Shift us all out of there and attempt to give her the chance only to find she can’t do that no more now she’s a priestess of Lathander and in her infinite wisdom attempts a True Seeing only to have her eyes melted right out of the sockets! She’s screaming in pain on her knees.

Xavier actually tells Lolth “I hear you as a God but I don’t hear you” and smites her! well damn I’ve seen someone get FLANSE’d before and it’s not something that a sane person can stomach watching but what she did to Xavier in response made a Red Wizard of Thay look like a 1st year apprentice suffering from a stutter and unable to cast the most basic cantrips. Luckily for him and us Dalarn’s priest opens a portal and I quickly hightail it out of there along with the rest of the gang with a simple Bardic Escape spell. Unfortunately the priest had to stay behind to hold the portal open for the rest of us to teleport through as he refused the benefit of the spell. With a thud we land in the chamber of life and the portal slams shut to an intense scream of rage and pain. We can only hope his end was quick and she hasn’t kept him for torture.

With the help of the magical waters in the Chamber of Life we slowly get Xavier’s skin put back on and Clearice is able to regenerate her eyes back into her eye sockets. We make our weary way to Ravens Deep and get reunited with Dalarn and Omega. Not only that but the entire Midnight Menagerie is present as we are told most, if not all, the adventurers in the city have gathered to help deal with the drow threat from Nykhandthandar once and for all.

Discussion/Side note: Skipping game next week for a Summer Break, Introduced new character by BOB whom is a witch named Ellae. Went over our knightly oaths. Pimfire become a Knight of the Golden Crown Roosters.

I want to set the record straight about the latest tale that is making the rounds in the taverns. Something important they have left out. While we were on Mount Celestial Midael introduced us to a plucky adventurer named Ellae. He told us we’d need his assistance if we were to retrieve the orb of protection, stop the heart of bane from destroying the entire prime material plane and to deal with the movements of a new threat we’ve been receiving warnings about lately called the Phaerimm. I recall that we learned a bit about them from Solitaire when we rescued the followers of Eilistraee from the Underdark drow before our run to save the Clan Glimmering Sword.

That being said once we made it back to Ravens Bluff we were given a night to recover from our exploits before a group of handpicked guards mostly from the Knights of the Ravens escorted us down into the Underdark to deliver the scroll to Lord Blacktree in Ravens Deep. Our journey was surprisingly quick with no threats. Something I must confess I was not expecting. Once there Lord Blacktree took stock of the information while we checked out the improvements to Ravens Deep, and not a moment too soon.

The next day we received word that the Drow were moving in force against Ravens Deep. We were dispatched to one of the outposts to retrieve the soldiers and bring them back alive to protect Ravens Deep against the oncoming horde. When we arrived at the checkpoint, we found a portal, demons, drow and dead soldiers everywhere.

Naturally, we charged into combat, Omega was even able to drop a Glabrezu in a single exchange of blows! I rushed to control the field and stop a bunch of Vrocks from dancing and summoning a powerful enchantment only to have them turn on me the moment I foiled their dance recital. You could say, “They got SERVED!” The rest of our group attempted to deal with the many spiders and drow only to discover the drow were actually handmaidens of Lolth herself called Yochlols. With more demons, pouring out of the portal Clearice attempted to stop them but not before a Balor strode onto the field crushing a few of his own allies just to fit. With more eyes and the feeling of even greater demonic presences beyond the portal, she stepped into it to destroy it, possibly sacrificing herself in the process, only to cause a powerful backlash that felt like it killed all of us.

Yet we awoke in what appeared to be a child’s dollhouse as marionettes! Everything was made of wood, straw and such. Without any weapons or our gear, we explored the place to find ourselves indeed in a child’s playhouse on a table inside a room that was either massive sized for gargantuan giants or else we had been shrunk. The fact is that did not matter but getting out did. Using a spool of thread and a metal needle we made our way to the floor and from there and Tymora’s guidance we choose to explore a shelf that contained other puppets like us to find they were various creatures such as an Illithid, lich, gnome, elf, displacer beast, dwarf and beholder. All seemed to have been tampered with as if an evil child ripped them apart and rebuilt various pieces with metal or different implements. They were non-responsive and most likely dead. We took the pieces we felt held power such as a cape and a weapon and the like.

It was at this moment a drow child entered the room. She proceeded to threaten us with her giant sized hands and when we rebuffed her she stuffed us into a basket and took us to a pantry where she was knocked down by a giant puppy like spider, this in turn spilled us out onto the floor. We scattered to various safety, myself under the shelves while the rest took off to explore either the pantry or the freezer locker. With a bit of luck and such it was discovered our true selves were hung inside the freezer and blood magic might have been used to turn us into puppets, Dalarn, Ellae and Clearice manage to open one of the jars of our blood. This freed Xavier’s hound Shadow who grew to match the girl and spider in size. Before they realized it Shadow had ripped the spider and girl to shreds and were able to free the rest of the blood vials to restore ourselves.

We collect our doll versions of self and amazingly the strange items we found stayed with us when we put ourselves back into the body. Omega has an Axe, Dalarn a Needle, Pimfire a Shiny Cloak, Clearice a telescope, Xavier a longsword. We started to examine them but again a strange pulling feeling overcame us and we get vaulted back into nothingness and catapulted across what we assume is Lolth’s layer of the Abyss. What we see is best not described. We suddenly appear on a Chessboard in these positions

Shadow & Dalarn are Knights

Pimfire & Xavier are Rooks

Clearice & Ellae are Bishops

Omega is the King

Across from us, we could see things were dire as there were a completely full side of monsters it seemed we must beat. Well if I do not make it, I hope our record survives and makes it back to Mok’s hands so he can devise a way to rescue us or at least recover our bodies for proper burial.

The Red Knight (Lady of Battle, deity of strategy, planning, and tactics)

Tymora (Goddess of good fortune, skill, victory, adventurers)

Waukeen (Goddess of trade, money, and wealth)

Lathander (God of spring, dawn, birth, youth, vitality, athletics)

Chauntea (Goddess of agriculture, farmers, gardeners, summer)

Tyr (God of justice)

Torm (God of duty, loyalty, obedience, paladins)

Run By: JoeSubmitted By: Pimfire

Discussion/Side note: Discussed Pimfire giving up a Feat called Manyshot for the next month so start of August will have Fleet (+5 movement)

A story being told by many bards throughout the taverns of Ravens Bluff currently

So there the mighty hero’s of Midnight Menagerie where faced with a task to retrieve a scepter, awaken a sleeping angel and somehow hold back the tides of a vast army of drow and their minions while the dwarves and folk of Kandelspire retreated to safety through a magic portal.

What do you think they did folks? Did they run away? NO! They set out on their quest through enemy lines to a land beyond a strange portal where they encountered prehistoric like drow who where trained by a dwarf! The mighty Lord Omega challenged the tribal leader in fair combat and won! Being the humble warrior he instead asked for a favor to be allowed to go to the Caverns of Doom in the defeated chieftains place rather then take up the mantle of leadership for the tribe. Lo-and-Behold his request earned him great respect and honor from the entire tribe who allowed him and the rest of the Menagerie permission to visit the Caverns of Doom from whence no one has ever returned.

There Lord Omega puts a fallen follower of Ellistraee cursed with vampirism and entombed for all eternity out of his misery, the group frees an Efreet named Yelthorian Munstrabur from a terrible curse of cold and in thanks are given directions on how to proceed through the Caverns. Finally the group reaches the end of the caverns and retrieves the scepter from it’s resting place. They return to find the dwarves of Kandelspire prepared to fight and flee once they awaken the Protector Midael the Solar.

How best should I describe the chaotic battle that took place that day but to use the hero’s own words themselves:

Sir Dalarn mac Conloch Runeaxe of Clan Ironstar and hero of the retreat of Kandelspire stood enlarged by magical means as a giant amongst his brethren dwarves fighting intensely every-time a dwarf fell his fighting became more focused, Intense, and desperate with each swing of his axes claiming a foes life. Finally seeing Thane Golgi Balehammer fall to an overwhelming horde he reached down and grabbed him in one of his giant hands and with a mighty toss threw the Thanes body through the Portal so that he would not be lost and perhaps maybe even revived by powerful clerical magic. Dalarn then made the decision that he would not cross the portal while even one other living dwarf was still on that wide of the rift. When it started he was ready to die for his people so the enemies did not matter to him, neither in numbers of strength. Let it be known never has a Dwarf shown his colors more true then that day, many a dwarven child shall grow up to revere his heroics for the Glimmering sword clan.

Xavier Cross paladin of Chauntea with his powerful bow stood amongst the archer dwarves a full 2 heads taller was focused on taking care of stragglers and knowing exactly how far off an ancient Shadow Dragon was taking shots upon it when it flew close. He wasn’t too worried about the dwarves because he knew that Omega and Dalarn would be the last ones through the gate and they wouldn’t leave anyone behind. Neither would Xavier leave his friends behind. When they got through the gate, he felt exhilarated at being picked up by the divine creatures that were there and seeing all the survivors there.

Lady Clearice Eilif was was stunned by the mass of forces that were bearing down on them and the hard battle they would certainly be facing. The odds were certainly against them even as the battle was just starting and from up on high she could clearly see this. She began the battle trying to minimize the casualties through the power of her healing abilities. Once the more perilous waves began coming forth she decided that offense might be best to quell the storm of enemies. As the battle raged on things became more and more desperate until she heard a familiar voice urging her to accept his help in this struggle. At this point, Clearice had started to feel more torn accepting help from a demon lord as she was starting have doubts that he was as helpful as he had seemed, but seeing they were in such dire circumstances she felt she must do all she can to help even if it risked her own soul. She accepted his help causing her blade barriers to become a writhing mass of sickly green blades flooding the area they sprouted from in acidic waves of blood. This was much more effective than her previous attacks and struck fear in her enemies but it was still not enough to slow the coming tides so when she once again felt the familiar whisper in her ear she made a horrible mistake. Knowing it was likely evil to even imagine using the enemies dead against them she felt it was all she could do to slow the tide. She asked this of of the demonic voice to which he maliciously obliged by not raising the dead of the enemy but fallen dwarves who we had been fighting alongside up until now. They rose as vampires numbering over 100 swiftly killing all who stood in their path as Clearice looked on in horror of the fiendish act she had committed. For the voice in her head was none other then the demon Lord Graz’zt. She heard it’s final words rang mockingly in her head, “For you? I would do anything..” and with that she cried as stepped through the portal with the last of defenders.

Sir Pimfire Tyndal inspired many a dwarf that day as he took to the skies upon summoning a group of Pegasus (Plural: Pegai) for himself and a squad of archers. There they rained death down upon tanari forcing a Marilith to retreat even. He watched in horror as a giant spider construct stomped through Kandelspires gates and rushed to the huddled masses fleeing through the portal and with a wave of a wand managed to blast it and slow it down enough until help arrived from a Giant Lord Omegasun to deal with it. It is said he summoned stars that shone with daylight to blind the drow and silence the priestess of Lolth, buying time for the defenders to flee. With another word he transported his group of flying avengers towards the portal but not before they managed to grab a fallen comrade each and throw him/her over their Pegasus.

Lord Omega you might ask where was he? Why he was made a giant as well through magical means and if it wasn’t for his efforts that Giant Spider construction that Pimfire slowed would have eventually blocked the portal but Omega picked it up and twirled it around smashing drow and their minions alike only to hurl it at the massive Arach-Zanilith temple which was lumbering forward. Yes he hurled a giant spider at a massive spider folks much to Lolths priestess woe. Somewhere you know Lolth must have smiled for the chaos and irony of such an act but don’t mistake he’s probably on her most wanted list for such a sacrilegious act.

Finally as the last stepped through the portal it closed upon the face of Arach-Zanilith itself gouging part of it’s face off and dropping it into the Lake the survivors found themselves in. They had arrived to a safe haven, heaven or Celestial in fact for before them was Mount Celestia.

Among the confusion the group was given a moment to speak with Midael who gave them the vital information on the orb of protection they had been seeking along with help reaching Arvandor for a moment so that seed from the Tree of Life could be planted. It was then he informed the group of Clearices corruption from a demon lord and seen only an elf could perform this act Xavier a half-elf was given leave to step through a portal and plant the seed releasing the elven souls which he did before stepping back through the portal.

Now you might think there deeds stopped here? you would be wrong for with a moments warning they were told the Gods themselves wished to speak with the mighty hero’s.

Stepping forth from the mists which came up to surround them were Moradin, The Red Knight, Tymora, Waukeen, Lathander, Chauntea, Tyr and Torm. Each of the hero’s was greeted by one or more of these gods.

Sir Pimfire Tyndal watched as Tymora herself greeted him with admonishment for calling on her all the time, then for not calling on her enough in recent times since she’d grown fond of him. She took his lucky coin and upon inspecting did indeed pronounced it lucky and decided to keep it for herself but in exchange she gave him a special coin of her own with her face stamped upon it and instructions to call upon her favor more often. With a single kiss to his cheek she left. His heart lurched for while he says he has met many a beauty in his time including Selune herself none could match the love and tenderness that Tymoras kiss left upon his cheek and heart.

Lord Omegasun was greeted by the Red Knight and told she is pleased for his power in battle in her father Tempus name, She asks that he disarm and he does only to watch as she picks up his Flachion and drives it straight into his chest! A moment of shocked silence by the hero’s as Omega stood with his own sword through his chest before everyone realized he wasn’t dead nor bleeding! As the sword is withdrawn from his chest a tattoo can be seen of the Red Knight herself and she swears no mortal blade shall penetrate his flesh easily.

Lady Clearice Eilif ex-follower of Chauntea now priestess of Waukeen stood humbled before the gods and goddess for upon arriving at Mt. Celestia Clearice could only feel pain and remorse for the horrible acts she had committed during that battle feeling the slimy taint of Graz’zt having corrupted her even as she burned in the waters of Mt. Celestia undeserving of her rescue. She sat feeling the burn of the Light on her freshly blistered skin realizing how much of a cretin she must seem like. Then when she was asked of the seed of the tree of life she felt even more ashamed being under the eye of an angel as he commanded her comrades to deliver the seed in her place only solidifying her feelings of depravity and self-loathing at what she had done. After the delivery of the seed, she could hardly believe what she was hearing from this Angel. He said the gods wished to have an audience with us.

She knew of course that she should not be another gods presence being now only fit for Graz’zt himself at this point and immediately threw herself to the ground in prostration to the beings of goodness and light that were to be here in but a moment. She did not react to the heartwarming moments between the others and their patrons as she felt she was undeserving to gaze upon such things at this point. When she finally felt the presence of her own deity she raised her head only to affirm what she felt she deserved as the last remnants of the light were stripped from her as Waukeen turned her back on her craven priestess. Even though she had seen it coming Clearice could not have prepared for the feeling of fear and pain associated with the loss of her divine grace. This was also coupled with the feeling of loneliness and trespassing as she sat in such a divine place while being such a despicable creature.

This feeling was not the end of her torment as Lathander stepped forward looking down upon Clearice making her feel like an insect before the might and grace of a mountain. He spoke of the wickedness that Clearice had performed but she had been unaware of the true evils she had performed as Lathander restored her memories of her month in service to Graz’zt and the abominable acts she had performed in his name and the innocent souls in which she had taken and sacrificed never to be given proper rest till the end of time. He also showed Clearice the true grotesque visage that was Graz’zt piling on more horror for the acts she had committed during that month and giving a new sickening layer to the vile corruption that coats her being and soul like a viscous oil. After being shown the truth of her actions Clearice felt only a hollow emptiness in her being having already been abandoned by her goddess and now being shown how deeply she has been corrupted she felt as if she were alone in a swirling bit of chaos like her own personal Island of the Abyss for which she felt she deserved, solitary and confined to stay here until the end of time never granted rest such as the souls she had destroyed. She felt irredeemable that nothing she had done could ever be forgiven but in this nearly endless moment of torment upon the sea of darkness surrounding her, she could see a light growing in the swirling mass of endless darkness. This light kept growing until she was truly blinded by it and the darkness was gone as if it had never existed.

This Light was the true form of Lathander in all of his brilliance and perfection. As she tried and failed to shield her eyes from the brilliance of the light she heard a voice. “Do you wish to seek redemption for your sins?” Clearice still could not see how she could ever be redeemed from what she has done but the warmth and brilliance of the light gave her a faint hope that maybe just maybe things could be made right. “Yes.” with that single word the Light faded into the form of Lathander towering before Clearice the taint of Graz’zt having been washed away leaving only the horrible memories as a testament to her sins burning freshly in her mind. As she rose from her knees she felt the void in her being filled by a new Light as she witnessed Chauntea step forth with Tyr. She felt sadness as she saw her old patron goddess knowing that she has failed her as well with her past deeds and vowed once again to seek atonement for the horrible acts she performed. Of course, Chauntea was not here for her but for Xavier as she said a single beautiful tear for him before turning away. This tear struck hard into Clearice as it must have with Xavier as she had let her down as well. Xavier’s sentencing for his actions was harsh but merciful and showed Clearice the true mercy of the Gods that neither of them were denied a chance at redemption. She told herself she would not squander such a precious gift as she accepted the scroll case with the information about the orb of protection that needed to be delivered.

Xavier Cross stood there unaware of what was to befall him. When the gods came and bestowed the gifts on Dalarn, he was happy for his friend, especially when he saw that his parents were there. When Tymora came and talked with Pim, he was sad that she didn’t seem to notice him, but got over it. He was shocked when Omega got stabbed and then happy for his reward. Scared for Clearice when her god turned away from her and happy that she wasn’t insta-killed by her new god. Sad when Chauntea shed a tear and then turned her back on him stripping him of his powers as a Paladin for he had committed a heinous act of killing an innocent dwarf who was turned into a beholder despite protests and warnings from his allies. Tyr himself sat in judgement over him ready to deliver a verdict of guilty when Torm stepped forth and offered him a chance at redemption by giving up his worldly things, atoning for his past and taking up the mantle of a paladin of Torm to fight in his name. Sacred of the sentence Tyr would bring he accepted the conditions of Torm and Tyr warned him not to falter in his duties as there would be no more chances from his Justice.

Sir Dalarn mac Conloch Runeaxe of Clan Ironstar first thought was that he had failed and they had all died. Especially after the Solar apologized before they showed up. So he was in awe but also relieved when the spoke to us. Moradin destroyed Ebony Shadow a powerful axe he was using which saddened him, it had over a thousand years of Dwarven history and had held up well for him. It also seemed to be a waste of Dwarven craftsmanship and the legacy of its maker. Moradin empowered his ancestral axes and told him never to use any other weapons but these. Then Moradin gifted him with a visit from his parents souls. He actually shed a tear when he seen his family, and was honored beyond words at it. As far as everyone else went he was shocked and confused by Omega’s stabbing till he seen he was okay. He was indifferent to Pim’s but it seemed to make Pim happy so Shrug. He was glad to see Clearice cleansed, as he had suspected she was under an evil influence, since she could cast like she was and had not spoke of difficulty getting her spells while in the demon web pits. He was vindicated by Xavier’s situation. He remembered the remorseless death of one of his kind at Xavier’s hands and had not forgot or forgave it himself.

Then my friends the hero’s left Celestial along with the remains of the Kandelspire citizens and lead them here to Ravens Bluff. That is how Clan Glimmering sword once thought lost found it’s way back.

Knightly Honors

1 recommendation from Semmunsal Silverspear, Cornel of the Highbank Forest Elves, to any knighthood

Omegasun and Dalarn
Griffon Feather Necklace (Griffon): This necklace is adorned with the purest feathers from a noble griffon mount. This honor is awarded for a knight’s actions of reckless courage that inspires others to accomplish a great victory over a powerful enemy.

Clearice
Golden Crest(Phoenix): This honor is a large gold charm of an ornate shield with the heraldic symbol etched on it. It is the highest honor given by the Knights of the Phoenix; this honor is bestowed upon a knight who travels to the Planes in order to thwart a plot against the city of Ravens Bluff. The knight involvement must be a critical part of the success of the mission and without that involvement the plot would have succeeded.

Pimfire and Xavier
Ivy Crown (Military): Awarded to an individual knight (not a unit) for actions taken behind enemy lines that result in the rescue and return of a friendly unit, which would otherwise have been destroyed.

Past Honors earned

Dalarn Runeaxe for basically 1v1ing a Cornugon
Griffon Lance (Griffon Claw): This masterwork lance (type is knights choice) is made from a solid piece of ironwood and is considered of excellent quality. It is awarded to a knight defeating in one-on-one honorable combat a foe who is significantly more powerful than her.

Clearice for the Cornugon fight
Brass Talon: This honor is a finely crafted brass charm of a phoenix talon reaching out of a flame. It is bestowed upon a knight whose direct action resulted in the defeat of a free-willed planar creature that threatened the city or populace of Raven’s Bluff. Damn dimensional anchor.

Rewards

Sir Omegasun, Lord of Ravens Bluff, Leader of the Midnight Menagerie, Senior Corporal of the Harbor Patrol, Knight of the Griffon, and Battle Commander of the Red Knight

Blessing of the Red Knight

Primary Weapon – +1 enhancement bonus.

Chest Tattoo of a Red Knight – DR 10/magic

Dalarn mac Conloch Runeaxe of Clan Ironstar, Son of Conloch and Isabold, Brother to Gethfrik, Friend to Clan Brightsword, Savior of Clan Glimmering Sword, Alaghor of Clangeddin, Defender of Ravens Bluff, and Squire to the Knights of the Griffon.

Axes of the Mother

magical transference of all the properties of Ebon Shadow to your +2 Ancestral Dwarven Waraxe and an additional +1 enhancement bonus

Discussion/Side note: We were spoken to regarding about Meta gaming. Spoke regarding the trade post for the books from the library and will use the forum posts for this to save on play time.

Dear Journal,

The following morning we woke up in Kandelspire and decided to pay a visit to a storyteller by the name of Lysanther Tarkenthal. We quickly learned he was the last of a line of elves and that his fellow elves passed away here by Lolth’s drow minions who have trapped their souls in the Demonweb pits. The only way to release their souls would be to visit a special tree referred to as the Tree of Life and gather a seed, then travel to Arvandor somehow and see it planted. Not an easy task as we are warned of some creature simply referred to as a Nightmare by Lysanther that Lolth has placed blocking his path to the tree. It has also weakened him greatly and he fears aged him beyond the ability for his magic to maintain his life much longer.

Without having to discuss it, we all agree to help him release the souls of his Kindred and he creates a portal leading near to the tree of life. Upon stepping out of the portal we encounter his nightmare alright, I can’t speak to what the others saw but I witnessed a giant sized version of my daughter Amuka get attacked and killed only to have her rise up and turn upon me. She chased me all over before I realized there was no way to fight it and decided to rush down into the building where a 100-foot tall person could not follow. I heard from Omega that Dolly grew and was spewing lava at him, Clearice babbled something about flying glass shards, Dalarn said he saw his father who kept trying to beat him, and Xavier just did not experience anything other than confusion over all of us.

We made it down into the temple of the Tree of Life, recovered the seed from an angel who was guarding the tree of life and returned to Lysanther. We gave him peace of mind and he gave us a few gifts before transferring his soul into the seed knowing we would find a way to Arvandor somehow to plant it and release the souls inside to their rightful resting place.

The next day there was a great feast and games in celebration of the Prince upcoming wedding to his beloved. The main attraction was a contest of strength, agility and determination, which was most enjoyable. Though my diminutive size made it hard to keep pace with my companions, throughout the obstacle course I was neck and neck with Omega for the lead since my agility allowed me to dodge or rush when others had to go a bit slower. The entire race came down to a mere second between 1st and 3rd place! Just as I was about to cross the finish line I stumbled only to watch Dalarn slip past myself and Omega to cross the line with his Beard of all things before Omega’s longer legs came down followed by my own. In the end Dalarn got a prized ring of Freedom while Omega and Myself received the runner up prizes.

Then just as the games died down later in the evening the Thane returns from his communing with protector and gives a rousing speech, the hallmark of any great leader I might add, only crack open the scroll we carried to read it and declare us traitors! Turns out it was a note stating we’d betray them by waking the protector and so doing bring down the sphere of protection keep the horde of drow from finishing them off. I realized the protector must be the Solar Midael that Umrae-vyll told us we would meet who had the information we needed to find the Orb of Protection why else would she say we’d betray them in a letter she had us carry otherwise. I got to say I expected a better plot from a High Priestess of Lolth as this felt like something a common male drow would come up.

I explained why we needed to speak to Midael to recover the orb of protection before the heart of bane pulled the entire Prime Material Plane into the abyss and killed everyone. Then we attempted to come up with some ways to save the dwarves perhaps get them to Ravens Bluff through a portal. Thane Golgi gave us directions on who last had the scepter needed to wake Midael and that he left many years ago through a green portal, which we realized was back the way we came next to the dark portal we took from Arach-Zanilith to reach here.

We quickly made our plans for retrieving the scepter while the dwarves would prepare for a mass evacuation when we returned and awoke Midael.

Quiver of Returning = Xavier
Any arrow removed from the quiver and shot from a magical bow will return to the quiver if it misses its mark.

Thundercracker = Dalarn (given to him by Beermop)

Warhammer +3, +4 Returning in the hands of a Dwarf. When hurled it returns at the beginning of the owners next turn.

When hurled deals +1d8 damage, +2d8 damage vs. Giants.

Thundercracker creates a cacophonous roar (like thunder)) on a critical dealing an additional +1d6 damage before being multiplied and the victim must make a DC 14 Fort save or be deafened permanently.

If wielded by a dwarf who also possesses magical gloves of strength and a belt of strength it gains the Giant Slayer property. Any Giant struck by this hurled weapon must make a DC 18 Fort Save or die instantly.

Discussion/Side note: Got up to date with rewards from past adventures/updated logs. Next several adventures is super important. Missing will not result in no play BUT we will continue without a player or two and it’s HIGH risk! Staff of Life has 3 charges as of start of this session.

Dear Journal,

Finally I had some time to focus on studying the book of Denhart which I was given. Inside I was able to translate a song which seemed to indicate the Drow had stolen the Orb of Protection and where keeping it inside a temple called Arach-Zanilith in Nykhandthandar. Lord Blacktree confirms this very fact from his conversations with the followers of Eilistraee that we had saved. We are also informed that the Drow attacked and annihilated the village of Mare’s Crossing and killed Lord Nieven Moonglow in retaliation for us helping them to escape. Dark times.

We are given directions to a secret entrance along with 2 special potions of Duo-Dimension each which is supposed to make us skinny enough to fit into the slender crack of a “secret entrance”. One to get us inside and one to get out with the Orb if possible or information on its whereabouts if it has been moved. Mok is with us as this is a delicate mission that might require his services.

We find the entrance, drink our potions and proceed. Just as the effects are about to expire we come out into a cavern filled with screaming mushrooms, not a temple. We silence the mushrooms only to have phase spiders start popping in and around us. Mok and Clearice get dragged off into their ethereal home while Omega and Dalarn manage to beat them back one at a time.

Not knowing if they are alive and with no way to reach the ethereal plane, we press forward through the cavern to another crack. We finally decide to drink our escape potion hoping it leads to the temple that we can find another way out as now we’d be stuck otherwise. We finally reach what could only be the temple itself as a giant spider like structure stands in the next cavern. We got the impression we had crossed over into another dimension as well possible the demonweb pits themselves.

We enter the temple are greeted by a drow whom I manage to understand through use of an alter self ability granted by my clothes. She tells us to follow her and we oblige through many rooms decorated in ghastly and tacky style. The artwork is warped and wrong according to Dalarn and Xavier telling stories that never happened.

Finally we reach a huge antechamber used as a gathering sacrificial room I guess since there is a bound prisoner on an alter surrounded by female drow holding daggers and whips. We speak to the High Priestess Umrae-vyll who knows we seek the Orb of Protection and proceeds to reveal she is holding Clearice and Mok hostage. She gives us back Clearice to help us on a simple quest to deliver a message to Thane Golgi Balehammer a dwarf in Kandelspire, which the drow have been besieging for years and wish to see end, in return she will give us directions to a Solar named Midael who has information on the whereabouts of the Orb of Protection. Midael was a Solar who came to the Dwarven clan Glimmering Sword many years ago (roughly 800) and helped prevent them from extermination. He has been missing since. When we ask why she would help us it’s revealed the Heart of Bane itself has the power to pull the entire Prime Material Plane down into the Abyss which would lead to chaos, destruction and mayhem beyond anything anyone wants. After some divination from Clearice we agree. After all it’s just a message.

We step through a gateway and into a different plane, we approach a magical barrier designed to keep Lolth and her minions out (not us) and step through into Kandelspire. Some dwarves greet us and fetch Prince Bleth Balehammer. They remember the Midnight Menagerie as to them many years ago our group helped saved the remnants of their clan (but for some of us it has only been a couple years, Mok might be able to explain this whole Time Travel thingy better). We are informed the Prince is to wed soon and the Thane is communing with some being they call the Protector. Until then we are to wait and relax, enjoy their hospitality and partake of the wedding games approaching.

We first hit up a shop called Reltide’s Clothiers run by a human tailor. Clearice makes a deal for a fancy new cloak. Then we move onto Uthak’s armory but nothing strikes anyone’s fancy. Eventually we make it to the library where a gnome named Portius greets us and shows off his collection of books when we hear a scream. We rush off to check on it to find a young dwarven girl is stumbling and crying in the middle of the marketplace. A mine shaft fell or collapsed. People worry someone fell outside the defensive shell. We quickly make our way to this hole, go down and look for the boy where we come across an old building which might have been part of a mining operation just as we investigate the inside a terrible sight greets us, floating undead beholders called Death Tyrants.

All I know is the world went dark at this point, I turned and ran to try and get out of what is typical of such creatures anti magic eye cones in the hopes to regain my magical Darkvision only to stumble and fall down a flight of stairs, which I don’t remember being there. Apparently I snapped my neck falling and luckily Clearice came by after Omega managed to make friends with them using his special coin to revive me. I would hate to think that’s the way my story ended, a flight of stairs in a dark hole.

We found the dwarven boy who it turned out is our assigned guard Gunther Beermop’s son. He seemed very grateful for the rescue and we rest back in Kandelspire.

Discussion/Side note: Was known Clearice and Dalarn would not be present. Also there are about 7 adventures left in the Underdark side of things (probably take us 10 gaming sessions or so)

Dear Diary,

Cardio. My new hobby is jogging or running for a few hours every day no matter what. This means if I am on guard duty at night when off adventuring I run on the spot for the couple of hours I am awake. If I am back home in Raven’s Bluff, I go for a good jog every morning rain or shine. Why this sudden interest in cardio? Aside from the fact that all my friends are faster than me, it probably has to do with the fact that I had to spend weeks running for my life from a drow army chasing me throughout the Underdark.

It all started with the usual hush hush secret meetings with Lord Blacktree in Ravens Deep. We were introduced to Lady Silverhair or in Omega’s case re-introduced as apparently he’s met her before when she had horns?! Our mission seemed simple enough. Help locate and evacuate a bunch of refugees who were fleeing Nykhandthandar and we are to help them and escort them to the surface. They had important information regarding the Orb of Protection amongst other vital Intel.

We set out with Lady Silverhawk who teleported us through the Underdark into a scene of chaos. A group of drow with a hoard of slaves and monsters were battling another smaller group of drow who were hard pressed into a defensive stance. In rage, Silverhawk ordered us to attack and save the smaller group who wore strange garb we would learn belonged to followers of Eilistraee.

Silverhawk herself swelled up and grew larger doing something with a set of silver swords, which interlocked as she grew only to have them spin and unleash a blast of starfire similar to Mok’s silverfire power. Omega charged at a bunch of the drow soldier’s, Xavier opened fire against some drow riding Nightmares while I sought to destroy the large spiders roaming the battlefield. We quickly combined drove the force back to rescue the followers of Eilistraee. We introduce ourselves to them.

Imala Alabanviir, Niece of the Matron Mother of the First House of Nykhandthandar, is the group’s leader and high priestess of Eilistraee. We look around but can’t seem to find Lady Silverhawk at this point only to be informed that Imala believes she was Eilistraee herself who brought us to save them. Omega looked a little taken back by this, guess he did not know despite meeting her before. We are introduced to the rest of the followers of Eilistraee. As we make camp, more followers show up and it is decided that we should feast tonight in celebration of Eilistraee’s presence and saving them from certain death had we not arrived when we did to help. We pitch in with the chores. Omega helps with clearing the fallen; Xavier focuses on cooking a feast while I learn several new songs and dances and when the feast starts help entertain.

In the morning as the follower practice various sword routines Selagon Xytyr of the 4th house of Nykhandthandar walks right into camp and informs us that we had best get moving since we’ve angered the 2nd and 5th house who are even now marching an army to capture and kill us all. A warning of an advance scouting party sent ahead of us to slow us down and he leaves again as quickly as he arrived.

I attempt to lead us all out using the maps I have only to have to backtrack a few times. Before long, we hear the sounds of the army behind. So began my introduction to the need to improve my cardio. We reached a junction where we could have rushed to Ravens Deep for aid but Omega did not wish to lead a drow war band/army down upon them and I have to say that is the most sensible thing he has ever said. We kept running and pushed for the surface.

After many days of non-stop running from dusk to dawn or is it wake-up to lay-down since we are in the Underdark with no sun to really tell time? Anyways after many days, we finally get word from our scouts there is a group of trolls off to one-side tunnel mining gems! Not knowing what to make I figure it’d be best if we at least tried to figure out what they were doing or warn them of the Drow army. The followers of Eilistraee push on while we quickly investigate to find out they had been Svirfneblin who were turned permanently into Trolls by the advanced drow scouting party. We warn them of the danger and they join up with us but after running for a day we see coming up from behind is a large group of 50 drow riding huge spiders. The Svirfneblin-Trolls decide to make a stand to buy us time since they feel they can never return to Jacinth. I promise to pass along word to my contacts in Jacinth of their plight and how they stood their ground so their families would have closure.

It is the very night we parted company with the Svirfneblin-Trolls when Xavier and myself are on guard duty to see a silvery figure of Lady Silverhawk dance into camp and right up to the sleeping form of Imala. She beckons to her and Imala rises seeming to turn younger before our eyes. They dance for a bit before fading off. We wake the camp and the followers of Eilistraee feel awed and renewed in spirit knowing that they were traveling with a high priestess whom their Goddess deemed worthy and devotee enough. It seems the week or so of constant running was too much for Imala and she passed away in her sleep from exhaustion.

We continue onwards and we reach a cavern for a short breather only to watch as a strange man in a kilt steps out from the cavern wall. He warns us of not using clerical powers here, as it is dangerous since it is warded. We warn him of the drow army. He thanks us and introduces us to his wife and children. His wife is clearly a Medusa of sorts based upon her snake like hair. They introduce themselves as Gloxini and Ziozess. He takes his wife and child and steps back into the rock walls.

We press on for one more day and realize we are so very close to our goal. We think the surface may only be a half day or so journey left and worry that we have not encountered this advanced scouting party. We come upon a Y shaped section and have to decide to go Right or Left, I flip a coin and scream out Right only to hear Xavier say something about a “left hand rule” when in unknown territory. As our group rushes to the right tunnel, Selagon Xytyr steps forth from it to warn us again of the scouting party which is laying a trap down this pathway. He taunts me about always making sure to go “left” from now on and steps back into the darkness to disappear once more. We switch direction and head Right.

We keep going and eventually burst free into the sunlight! Blessed sunlight! I forgot about the sunlight. That is to say to warn the drow and the rest of the group. In seconds, anything magical from the Underdark starts to deteriorate beyond use. The followers of Eilistraee are overwhelmed by the brightness and the loss of the gear when we are greeted by a dwarven guard patrol. I warn them what is coming behind us we press on to Raven’s Bluff.

Lieutenant Budge greets us at the city gates and tells us he is to escort us to the Mayor. Mostly to protect the drow from harassment by the citizens. We finally meet the Mayor at her offices. I tell the tale of what is going on when suddenly a large man in chainmail with a scar down his cheek bursts in who appears to be a general of Shevarash. He apparently wants to kill all drow. The Lady Mayor asks the general to sit who keeps his eye on the drow. He says he is “here to do his duty” and the Lady Mayor tells him about the small army of drow coming towards us and that he might be more interested in dealing with them. He leaves. The mayor then says she will have a few people keep an eye on him so he does not cause any trouble.

She asks the drow women what they wish to do now they are free. One of them says Eilistraee has a shrine in the city and they wish to reside there if possible through use of the carriages. The mayor agrees. We help escort them there.

At the temple, we meet with Rebecca the high Priestess of the temple who is clearly wearing a mark that proclaiming her as a fellow Knight of the Golden Rooster. Because of our selfless act, we are to be seen as friends of Eilistraee everywhere and our names are etched into a stone in their garden and hands us a special pin that any priestess who sees this will recognize us as friends of their community and come to our aid.

Then as we descend to the ballroom to party, we are distracted by a silvery glow by one of the pools. In the pool, we see a dark elven female smiling up at us Lady Silverhair/Eilistraee. She reaches out with a soft touch upon our head. Then we glow quickly as she disappears and each of us now have a silver streak in our hair. I find it very distinguishing. Then the party began, these followers of Eilistraee know how to dance! Very late that same night back in Midnight Keep I thought I heard Lady Silverhawk/Eilistraee’s voice speaking to Omega but then it could have been all the wine I drank. I was very tired.

The following day I began recording down everything I had learned from the followers of Eilistraee while on the run about Drow culture, religion and it’s deity hierarchy along with the new songs and dances.

REWARDS

Silver Swallow-tailed Moth Pin = Omega, Xavier and Pimfire

This pin designated the holder as a friend of the “good drow.” Any NPC cleric or priestess of Eilistraee seeing this pin will aid the PC wherever possible.

Blessing of Eilistraee = Omega, Xavier and Pimfire

The character has been blessed by the Dark Maiden and now has a streak of pure silver running through their hair. It cannot be dyed or altered magically (it appears as a silver streak even on polymorphed PCs).

1st Power (once per adventure): This blessing gives the character the ability to cast Eilistraee’s Starlight. As Dancing Lights cast at PC’s CL but appears as brilliant stars. The stars are bright enough that they effect light sensitive creatures within 10’ of them.

2nd Power (one option once): This blessing gives the character the ability to use one of the following powers one time.
~ Roll a natural 20 on all SR checks made against Drow for 10 minutes.
~ Primary weapon (2 weapons if dual wielding) gain Brilliant Energy vs Drow for 10 minutes.
~ Roll a natural 20 on all saves vs. Drow spells and spell like abilities for 10 minutes.

If any of these powers are used against a follower of Eilistraee it would be very very bad for your health.

Songbook of Denhart Bliss = (Pimfire)

This book contains some of the works of the famous halfling bard Denhart Bliss while he was in the Underdark. It contains many songs that trace the history of events, battles, loves and losses under the surface if Faerun. Some songs speak of Sarbreen and its fall. There is even mention of the orb in one of the songs. It will take many weeks of study to learn all within.

After 3 weeks of study this book confers a permanent +5 Denhart Bonus to Preform (Singing). Once used the book magically displaces itself to a random location in the Underdark.

Discussion/Side note: Clearice will be unavailable for the next 2 weeks following this adventure.

The Battle of Graz’zt Village

There we were ready and buffed, everyone hasted, good hoped, Amuka and friends got a svirfneblin blessing enlarging and strengthening them for what was to come. A few invisibility spells thrown in for good measure and Veth a powerful dragon who was a friend of Amuka summoned a celestial being to our cause!

Our targets:

Amuka and her friends would free a bunch of slaves

The Dwarven soldiers would take out the drow barracks until help arrived from the freed slaves

The svirfneblin and their earth elementals would handle any drow nobles in residence

Sir Dresden and Mok had a crazy plan for dealing with the guard post tower

We had decided to sneak around the back way avoiding the battle in the middle as we headed towards the temple of Graz’zt

In the end, I blame myself for not remembering to cast a silence spell upon the dwarves. The moment we all charged to our assigned targets or in Mok and Sir Dresden case somehow catapulted at the tower the noise was deafening. You would have to be deaf and dumb not to see 12 angry heavily armored screaming dwarves come charging into the middle of camp. The alarm was raised and time was of the essence. Veth’s celestial ally started screaming about the evil it sensed and demanded to be let free which once done allowed it to leave and return quickly with others of it kind only to charge at the temple and the hundreds of demons that stated pouring out into the middle of the fray.

Amuka’s band made it to their destination and I am proud to say she was able to slay two drow herself one of which was a wizard before they freed the slaves who ran off to join in the battle.

Avoiding the center of the cave seemed to be the correct choice because with all those demons, drow, slaves and angels flying and fighting it would have taken us forever to make it to the temple, if we even made it at all. Along the way, I saw Mok flying near the guard tower read from a scroll and then a great earthquake shook the tower down. He was clearly crazy for using such a powerful and dangerous spell underground even in a cavern that large.

Inside the temple, I made a snap decision which way to go and it brought us down into a large room with Lava Rivers and a large pool of the stuff. There we fought bravely against numerous demonic drow capable of breathing fire and some driders. For those who have never seen one you are lucky. A drider is a drow male that has been turned into a vicious parody of itself with a large spider body and legs. They are fast, agile and adept at seeing everything something I learned the hard way.

Omega took on a whole squad of the demonic drow along with a couple driders while Xavier and Dalarn did the same with a group on the far side of the chamber. Clearice took flight invisibly and her touch and healing powers could be felt for which I am eternally grateful for without I would be dead. It was then we saw the High Priestess chanting by a large statue overlooking a huge pool of lava, every few seconds a giant lava bull would come rising up out of the depths. She had to be stopped. Xavier turned his bow her way only to watch, as his arrows would burst into ash flying over the lava. Realizing he could not get around the side quickly enough to put his bow to better use I had no choice. I quickly stepped behind a pillar, cast an invisibility spell and stepped back out walking past a Drider only to discover that they could see through such an enchantment. As it fired its bow at me repeatedly, I cried out to wherever Clearice was for assistance as I attempted to disrupt the High Priestess casting with the sheer power of my voice. By the time, I managed to get her to stop and hover over the lava pool out of reach I was down and heading towards a bright light only to find Clearice’s magical energy bring me back from the brink of death’s door.

Hovering over the lava the High Priestess remained while several large bull shaped lava creatures were roaming around spewing lava at friend and foe alike. Knowing we could not hit her with arrow or sword that left only spells and I was nearly spent with all our preparation prior to rushing in. I made the call to pull out a wand of lightning and blast her in the hopes that her death would result in the dispelling of the summoning of the lava bulls. As the wave of electricity hit her and she fell from her flight into the pool of lava I could hear Clearice’s scream of anguish and frustration over the loss of the potential magical components on her. I tried to explain they were probably evil but the bulls burst into flying gobs of lava destroying the last of the Demonic drow and driders.

Then as we picked ourselves up from that blast, the statue transformed into a handsome demonic giant laughing. In gratitude for the entertainment, he offered us a “special coin”. Why Clearice? Why would you look fully upon what was obviously the demonic embodiment of Graz’zt himself. As she did her coin appeared in her hand while the rest of ours appeared at our feet. I did not want anything to do with mine and left it but I think a few others might have picked theirs up using a glove or cloak to prevent contact, everything started happening to fast to really notice as the building started shaking. With a flash, the demon returned to stone and we rushed out of the temple as it collapsed. Clearice came out of her stupor long enough to look at us and cast a Planar shift. Mok thinks she might have gone into the Abyss and we might have to go rescue her. There is too much confusion right now to focus on that as we are trying to sort the wounded, slaves and prisoners.

There is also the area itself needs to be explored to see if there is anything left that may need to be dealt with such as the large pool of water and the portal in the mushroom side chamber.

Rewards Low Levels

500 xp each + extra 500xp for Veth only use of Staff of Summoning
Jewelry worth 4,500 gp / 900 each

Wand of magic missiles (43 charges) – 1 missile per charge. Up to 3 charges may be used at once. (ZIMB)

Ring of Jumping (+5 to acrobatics when jumping) / (AMUKA)

Token sword (longsword): Until needed a token sword appears to be a simple token. When required it can grow from a miniature blade to a full-sized non-magical steel weapon. It remains in sword form for 4 turns and then disappears. (HK)

Girdle of the Lion (Michaela)
~ Wearing the girdle enables the wearer to speak with felines (as per the speak with animals spell) at will.
~ Felines from house cats to saber toothed lions have friendly reactions wit the wearer.
~ Cats of three HD or fewer will obey the wearer as if a suggestion spell was cast on them; cats with more HD get a save vs spells to negate the effect.
~ The wearer gains the ability to land from a fall in such a way as to minimize physical damage incurred from falling.
~ Finally, the wearer can see in low-light conditions like a cat (this does not work in magical or pitch darkness).

Rewards High Level

15,000 gp worth of misc. gems = Treasury

Wand of frost (31 charges) As Staff of Frost = Dalarn

Drow chainmail +4 = Treasury
Drow longsword +5 = Treasury
Bastard sword +3 of ice: This weapon was constructed from frozen vapors of various metals and gasses. As such, it always glows with a pale blue light and feels cold to the touch. Upon successfully striking a creature, it inflicts an additional 2d6 points of cold damage. = Xavier – Party Trade Item

Ring of protection +3, +4 for LE = Dalarn

Drow longsword +3 of paralysis = Pimfire – Party Trade Item
This finely crafted longsword of drow origin possesses a rather unique power. On a Crit the creature struck must make a fort save (DC 18) or be held (as per the spell hold person) for 5 rounds

Amulet of proof against location and detection = Treasury
This device protects the wearer against all divination and magical location and detection. The wearer cannot be detected through clairaudience, clairvoyance, ESP, crystal balls, or any other scrying devices. No aura is discernible on the wearer, and predictions cannot be made regarding him unless a powerful being is consulted.

Drow cloak of shielding +5 = Treasury
Crafted in the deepest reaches of the Underdark, this cloak has incredible protective properties, especially against wizards. When worn it confers a +5 armor bonus and a +2 resistance bonus. In addition the cloak provides protection from all magic missile spells. When the wearer is targeted with a magic missile spell the cloak will absorb the missiles and the wearer will take NO damage from the attack. As will all enchanted items of drow make the cloak cannot withstand exposure to sunlight. If so exposed it will deteriorate in just 2 rounds and be utterly destroyed.

Bracer of Blinding Strike (Chaotic) = Omega
Non warrior class – As Bracers of Defense +6
Warrior Class – +1 to all initiative rolls and thrice per day the wearer can employ the “blinding strike” power giving the warrior +1 attack at their highest BAB with a melee weapon. This ability stacks with Haste. Two of these bracers may be worn and used in the same round.

Discussion/Side note: Clearice will be unavailable for the next 2 weeks following this adventure.

Imagine our shock upon returning to Raven’s Deep to find the illithid ambassador was found out trying to enthrall everyone including Lord Blacktree, he was summarily caught and executed along with a degree that all illithid’s are to be executed/killed on sight and no further negotiations will ever be considered with their race. Then to further the shock Lord Blacktree informs us that the brewer’s guild of Clan Brightsword was found along with ancient writings of their recipes and employee’s. A festival was to be had for Raven’s Deep in honor of this momentous find and we were tasked with doing a quick check of the guard posts around the area.

When we returned it was to great cheer as we were greeted and told everyone voted us to be the judges of the festival wherein a lot of drinking and contests would take place. Dalarn excused himself from being a judge of the beer tasting competition which was the highlight of the festival as the winner would not only receive a hefty coin purse but bragging rights and the honor of having their beer exported to Ravens Bluff itself! There was 3 clear choice beers to choose from which where:

Mushroom Beer – this beer is made with fermented mushrooms. It is a bit of a bitter tasting brew but is actually very palatable.

Lake Stalk Beer – this clear brew is more like a fermented herbal. It is extremely strong but was the first recipe for a brew pulled from the ancient wall and actually created. It does not have much of a “taste” however, it makes up for it with a good kick.

Smuggler’s Blues – this beer is actually blue tinted due to a strange type of grain that was used in its brewing process it is very tasty, very similar to a nutmeg taste with little or no aftertaste. This brew has the side effect of turning the drinker’s tongue and teeth blue for a few hours. The blue is a harmless dye, but cannot be gotten rid of early. The drinker just has to wait for it to be absorbed.

I argue that the best is Lake Stalk, Xavier picks Smuggler’s Blues cause he’s a kid and likes that it dyes his mouth a color, Clearice picks Lake Stalk because all around it’s good and it’s the ancient recipe.

WINNER Lake Stalk Beer.

Then as I was about to announce the winner with my usual flourish a commotion caught my eye. It was an old acquaintance of mine Lady Talabrina. That is to say a Drow high priestess by herself being escorted would naturally be cause for a commotion. Upon greetings we retired with her and Lord Blacktree to discuss why she choose to join us to hear Drow threat nearby and for further details we’d have to travel to her and visit using the password “Lolth” to get past her numerous traps (which I remembered from last time as being incredibly deadly) in a puff she dissolved into snowflakes. Typical Simulacrums.

Despite warnings it’s a obvious trap, for why couldn’t she just say what the danger was through her Simulacrum, we headed to visit her. Once there we found the decor had changed from that of a magic shop to one of a torture and death with even Talabrina herself looked even more cruel and in keeping with what you’d expect of a high priestess of Lolth. She tells of a group of drow who have forsaken Lolth and worship that demon lord Graz’zt now which have sealed a tunnel near Raven’s Deep using magic which leads to their small camp (could be upwards of a few hundred drow there). She then gives Clearice a wand and tells her how to activate it which will remove sections of the tunnel magically sealed. Also for a purpose beyond my understanding Xavier is given a Mouth restraint which will magically adapt to any creatures head to seal their mouth shut. May come in handy against spellcasters we wish to capture. Before we go she mentions she is looking for her brother who turns out to be Hathmaar Blademark and would be grateful if we would pass on the message she is nearby and looking for him should be see him. She also mentions she’s of the 5th house of the drow city known as Menzoberranzan a fact we didn’t know before.

We return to Ravens Deep, inform Lord Blacktree of the information and wait while he tries to decide if opening that tunnel is worth the risk. Finally he decides we’d best do so and sets about gathering the troops while we are to go ahead and see about dealing with the threat if possible.

At the checkpoint Called Rockpile Post where the tunnel is magically sealed we meet Sgt. Parker and a few guards. Albert, Stowle and Theodore. I inform them of the troubling news and tell them to gear up as this post duty just got far more dangerous. Suddenly I hear Clearice shout out some words “Scaddle Scaddodel this rock is now a noodle.” which she points out are the words needed to activate the wand, even showing us the writing on the side of the wand, as a part of the tunnel vanishes.

After several more charges and a few hundred feet we come to a small open section of tunnel with a pentagram drawn on the far side where the sealed tunnel continues. Clearice investigates it and draws back a hundred feet or so to ask a quick question on a name written there called Yulariumoxanius. Once she says that word though it triggered the pentagram and summoned a powerful Cornugon.

Quickly seeing through the illusion of the small Cornugon and the old man we focus our efforts on the large demon to almost no avail. Clearice anchored it to our plane so it couldn’t escape but it was Hell bent on trying to kill her as a result. Finally realizing the Pentagram to be a protection circle I keep screaming for everyone to step inside but Dalarn and Clearice won’t listen as they go full crazy trying to destroy the demon. Finally with a bit of luck Dalarn landed the killing blow but not before it had managed to shred Clearice apart for anchoring it to our plane and preventing it from Fleeing which it kept screaming it wished to do near the end. Thankful for the Staff of Life we brought Clearice back and continued on despite my protest we should take some time to recover.

A few more sections of magical removed tunnel and we came across a shaft which lead to an ancient dwarven building where a strange glowing and obviously ghostly form stands. He introduces himself “I was known as Ugarth Axebiter, and I was the arm master of Clan Brightsword before the fall (he’s a ghost) know you that the clan did not completely fall during those days, strangers help some escaped to train and train hard in the hopes to retake the caverns and defeat the drow. Another group of drow found the school and butchered the warriors, it was a terrible day when they controlled the mind of the guards and turned them upon the rest. Some were taken as slaves, I need to name a living successor to a living person and it’s a test for this position. I see that all of you are dwarves or friends of the dwarves." I know myself enough to know I am no arm master or trainer of soldiers but Dalarn steps forth as does Clearice and Xavier they follow him into the building with a flash.

One by one they return with Dalarn being the last. None of them managed to pass the tests but Dalarn came close just refusing the last part of the test which would have seen him give up his family name and Clan to take up Brightsword’s. I fully understood why he choose to not do so as anyone who’s ever met a dwarf knows that Family and Clan are of the utmost importance to them. But it seems he got some sort of enchantment done to his family axes as they now glow a soft light when drawn.

We press on only to find the drow cult stronghold which appears to number 100+ drow along with many slaves. Just as we tried to figure out what we could do a flash of light and Mok appeared along with reinforcements including my own Daughter! WHATTHEHECK was Mok thinking bringing her down into the Underdark to fight drow! I barely manage to hold my anger in check as we formulate a plan that will at least, hopefully, keep her safe by sending her to free/fight some slaves rather then the drow themselves. Mok and Sir Dresdan wish to take out the guard tower while the Dwarves and Svirneblin with their earth elementals will focus on the Drow soldiers and nobles respectively.

Rewards

To be listed on the final Part of this adventure module

Loot to include several items from the Cornugon we defeated + Dalarn’s newly enchanted family axes

Discussion/Side note: Special Mission for Dalarn to return relics to clan Ironstar tonight. Rep from new magic shop brought a few items to sell and not taking any orders at this time.

Information on Clan Ironstar we found out prior to setting out on the hunt

From King Durglewrathindar Murgleishenblin:In 207 DR, the Ironstar realm was overwhelmed by orc invaders, and the clan fled south led by King Daurvos Frostbeard. Pursued by trolls and orcs, Frostbeard was slain at the Stone Bridge where Moradin appeared and drove the orcs back. Saved from the Orcs and Trolls by King Daurvos Frostbread’s sacrifice the clan moved deep into the Underdark. There the dwarves constructed maces from their secret Darksteel alloy called Ironstar maces. Today you know Darksteel as adamantine. It is said that Dargentum the Darksteel Drake was a silver great wyrm who moved with Clan Ironstar when they abandoned their realm and moved to the great Dwarven city of Jutganstien. That was a very long time ago and no one has heard from Clan Ironstar since the Time of Troubles. Attempts to divine answers have all failed and those sent to investigate have never returned.

From Illithid Ambassador Yagol:Perhaps a decade ago a group of Illithids were sent to investigate Jutganstien. Not only did they not return but those mentally linked to the investigators went mad and died shortly afterward.

From Lord Blacktree:A contingent of Raven Deep military are stations just outside the entrance to the Beholder Caverns. They will not accompany you but will assist with a tactical retreat if needed.

Quick summary of the adventure itself

Meed a clockwork man we’ve met before gave us some special candies that we’d need to withstand the influence of powerful magic on our journey through the beholder caverns and into the old dwarven city of Jutganstien where Clan Ironstar resided.

A side passage that pimfire investigated quickly showed to be a large den of Stirges which we promptly fled away from.

The beholder cavern we fought several beholders which turned out to be dwarves somehow transformed into a lesser version of the creatures. The fights were still tough but we prevailed. We managed to keep many of them alive once we realized what their true nature was by simply knocking them unconscious.

We reached the city of Jutganstien to find mindless dwarves moving about their tasks they seemed to be controlled by some powerful magic coming from the Citadel itself. Inside we encountered a throne room full of mindless dwarf soldiers, trolls and a powerfully built troll King sitting on the throne. Dalarn put on the crown we were to return and a statue came to life and our aid as once we engaged the troll king hordes of them came after us. A brutal fight but we defeated the king, destroyed the powerful and evilly enchanted crown which was being used to enslave everything in 100 miles and set the true heir of Clan Ironstar back on the throne.

Rewards

From King Graystone Ironstar:

For Dalarn:
Band of the stalwart warrior
Juggernaut’s pauldrons of Resistance +3

To each non-dwarf: (Omega, Pimfire, Xavier, Clearice)
A Belt of dwarvenkind is given to each. If the PC already has a magical belt it’s powers are incorporated into the Belt of Dwarvenkind. This Belt differs from a normal Belts of Dwarvenkind in that all it’s bonuses are racial bonuses.

Crown of the Slave Lord (Psionic) (Evil) (Artifact)
This mithril crown is set with 100 diamonds of varying sizes. It was created by the 1st Illithad Hive Mind in the time of Myth Dreanor. The power used in its crafting was the pure psionic energy of 100 elves. It’s believed that their souls still reside in the Crown’s diamonds in a state of eternal torment.

Known Powers:
Enthrall – all creatures within 100 miles (DC 32 Will)
Majesty – mass command all thralls as a standard action or all thralls in line of sight as a free action.
Tower of Will – Complete immunity to all harmful psionic powers.
Eternal Mind – Psionic powers used by the wearer are Empowered and cost half their normal psionic points.
Lifelock – Wearer may only be harmed or effected by spells of honorable Dwarves.
Inscription:
Inscribed on the inner ring of the great crown are the words
“only a Father’s Pride may resist my call”

10,000 pieces worth of diamond dust for the treasury

Dalarn, Xavier, and Omegasun
(General)Cold Forged Hammer: This Masterwork War Hammer is engraved with Dwarven runes and made of the finest materials. A knight who, by her actions, proves he or she had done a great task for the Dwarves earns this award and deserves their respect. The knight must have proven her own respect to the Dwarves by learning to speak dwarven and have done a great service for the benefit of the dwarven peoples. This service would be something like recovering and returning a dwarfish relic or artifact, aided a royal heir to recover his thrown, or slain a great enemy that holds a dwarfish stronghold and aiding its return to the dwarfish people. These actions must have placed her life at great risk. Any dwarf seeing a knight with this weapon will view the character as a true friend.

Pimfire
(Roosters)Gold Sword: An elegant and functional Masterwork weapon. It looks stately at formal functions. Given to a knight who when on a mission under difficult conditions such as traveling through the city’s sewers, navigating foul weather, or traversing a mudslide, remains impeccable in attire and attitude, always representing the Order with style and grace.

Clearice
Silver Moon Ring (Silver Hawk): This mother of pearl ring depicts a full moon inlaid with a silver hawk in flight. This honor is bestowed upon a knight whose direct action resulted in the rescue and acquisition of a powerful ally for Ravens Bluff being held by a powerful enemy. Note: The knight need not be injured in taking this action nor even be seen.

After the fight is concluded there is a discussion about the fate of the pirate ship, ultimately it is left afloat for the captain to retrieve at a later date as we continue on to the Isle. It is obvious because of the fight with the pirates and the debate over their ship that the captain wants to get us to our location and then off of his ship as quickly as possible. He pushes his ship hard for the next 2 days and then we arrive at the Isle.

A weird thing happens when we arrive, the wind disappears. It doesn’t peter off, it’s just gone. The air also changes from the rich salty feeling of the ocean to a dry, vacant feeling. Something isn’t right. The captain informs us that we have to go ashore in rowboats because of the lack of wind. We pile in and head to shore. This place is weird.

There are people walking around these buildings wrapped as if they were mummies. A couple of gaunt men, resembling skeletons really, meet us when we come ashore and the captain and one of the men share some words. When he is informed that we need to get the doom moss, he informs us that we need to go to the central mausoleum and speak with the priest that is there, we head that way.

Inside the mausoleum, we see an elderly man writing names into a tome. We speak to him and inform him that we need to recover the moss. He informs us that the island in which the moss can be found is highly dangerous and to retrieve the moss will be costly. He informs us that the island is a project that Jergal had been working on, but stopped, and now it was breaking apart.

I personally don’t want to go there, but we need to save the king. Dalarn makes a deal with the chronicler, what exactly, I don’t know. I honestly was freaking out about hearing the information about the island. We leave and head back to the rowboats and then head to the island. There we have a small argument about who is going to retrieve the moss. I volunteer (why I have no idea) but ultimately Dalarn goes onto the island. It looks brutal.
He was able to retrieve the moss in the box we received earlier, but it cost him. What exactly, I am not sure and he didn’t share. But he didn’t look the same coming back as he did when he left. We return to the Scorn and the captain sets sail. He drops us on the shore closest to Ravens Deep. The trip home is not without peril (of course not, we’re in the Underdark.)

The fights were brutal and they consisted of: Kobolds, Orcs, Giants, Blade Barriers and a Massacre. We survive that and go a little further and run into: Druegar, a Svirfneblin holding an orb in each hand. Dalarn and I talked about it briefly and we came to the conclusion that the orbs when combined together could be some kind of chemical bomb. So I shot one of the orbs to prevent that from happening. There were also Hidden Spellcasters.

The fight is brutal but we end up with a floating ballista. We haul it back to Ravens Deep and give it and the doom moss to Blacktree. With Pim helping, it takes 6 hours to make the cure. When given to the king, it takes a moment, but then he is saved.

Rewards

Figurine of Wondrous Power – Bulette = Clearice
Remains for 8 hours or until killed/dismissed
Usable 1 time per adventure

Levitating Heavy Ballista of Speed +1 = Ravens Deep (for now) / Midnight Keep after underdark
On a 10×15 wooden platform
Only takes one person to operate
Can fire 1 time per round (5d8 damage)
Can levitate for 1 hour per day
Can’t be affected by any form of size altering or extra-dimensional magic

Aarrgghh…some king, Durglewrathindar Murgleishenblin or something is coming to the camp and Blacktree I making us clean it. It doesn’t make since, especially since it’s a Svirfneblin, don’t they like the dirt? Shouldn’t we keep the camp dirty so that it would feel at home? Whatever.
While we clean, alarms go off. Everybody, save Dalarn who didn’t hear the alarm and kept cleaning (suck up), rushes to the noise but when we get there, and nothing is happening. We find a soldier, who is directing civilians and other personnel around and ask him what is going on. When he sees Omega he snaps to attention and salutes him.

“Omega sir,” He said standing so straight he looked artificial.

“What is going on here soldier?” Omega said with a slight smirk. The soldier relaxed a little and answered.

“While standing guard a zombie approached the camp, slowly. Of course the guards on duty freaked out and readied themselves for an attack, but it was a single zombie and it was not threatning us. When it got closer we saw that it was a Ravens Deep soldier and it had a sign around its neck that simply read ‘Tree.’”

“Assuming that Lord Blacktree would want to look at this zombie, we netted it, secured it and placed it into a wagon and sent it to his tent.” The soldier said finishing his report. Glances were passed amongst the members of the Menagerie.

“How long ago was the wagon sent to Blacktree’s tent?” Pimfire said with a notable sense of apprehension in his voice.

“Ten minutes or so,” The soldier said.

“Then we have time.” Pimfire said and cast a spell that transported everyone, but the soldier, to Blacktree’s tent. When we arrive outside of his tent he comes out to meet us. We explain what is going on just as the wagon with the zombie arrives. Blacktree looks at the zombie and sees that it is holding a letter. He pulls the letter and begins to read it aloud:

Dear Field Marshall Blacktree,
It is with some trepidation that I contact you. I must inform you that it is Lolth’s will that the human-svirfneblin alliance be destroyed. Fortunately for the relationship between Ravens Deep and House Xytyr, Lolth has not asked House Xytyr to become involved with the dissolution of the alliance. However, our joint enemy, House Dosstoloth has begged Lolth for this duty and she has smiled upon them in this regard. Furthermore, your upcoming meeting with the Svirfneblin king is known to all of Nykhandthandar.
I must advise that dissolution of the alliance you have entered into with the Svirfneblin, since it violates Lolth’s will. However, we generously offer information that house Dosstoloth has already sent out a strike force to intercept the Svirfneblin party. I suggest you make haste and send a small quick group to warn and reinforce the Svirfneblin.
Just to keep the record straight, your unfortunate scout that has served as the messenger was already dead. He had fallen into a pit of brown mold, which had been left just outside your regular patrol area. As a further token of our goodwill we eliminated the trap before anyone else became its victim.
Good Luck,
Seclia Xytyr
Matron Mother of House Xytyr
Humble serven of Lolth

Once Blacktree is finished reading he looks up at us with a knowing look. “I need you to get to the King’s party with haste and do all you can to prevent is demise.” We all nod and leave the tent. Omega gets on his new riding Lizard and Pim gets on his shoulders, Clearice gets on her lizard and I get on Shadow, then we head out.

Three days of travel later we are walking through a tunnel when we hear the sounds of battle. We follow the noise and come across a giant battle. Its chaos. In the midst of the chaos we see earth elementals standing over fallen Svirfneblin. We attack in their defense. When the drow realize that there is backup, they quickly retreat, teleporting their minions with them.
Once the enemy has retreated, Clearice begins assisting in healing the wounded. We come upon the king who is lying on the ground. We see that all of his wounds are healed but he is unconscious on the ground. Clearice tries to heal him, but it doesn’t seem to work. She tries some other magic with the same result.

“What’s wrong with him?” I ask her as I walk up on the scene.

“He seems to be poisoned as near as I can tell.” She says with a look of confusion on her face. I bend down to lay on hands, because I have been blessed with the means of removing posisons from those I heal. When I touch him and infuse the magic from Chauntea it feels like it almost works and then I get the worst feedback that I have ever felt. I quickly remove my hand from the body.

“That hurt. There is something wrong with this man.” I say and take a step back from the body. My hands were stinging and the tips were numb.

“Whatever is wrong with this man, its causing any and all magic to be sucked up.” Clearice said as she studied the king. “We should remove any magic items that are on the king so the magic won’t be lost.” As she was saying this, the king’s aid was removing magic items from the king. Clearice also starts to remove magic items from herself, just in case. I take a step back and go and stand near Shadow.

“Omega, strip butt naked so you can carry the king.” Pim said to Omega.

“No.” Omega said and looked at Pim like he grew a 2nd head. We mount up and head back to Ravens Deep and go directly to Blacktree’s tent. We inform him of what is happening and he says that we need to take a break, clean ourselves and eat. Once we are done, return to the tent and we will figure out what to do next. We leave.

We returned an hour later and commune with Blacktree. “Does anyone have any suggestions?” He asked. Before anyone can say anything a soldier walks into the tent.

“Sir, Yagol the Illithid Ambassador would like to speak to you.” He said. Blacktree went over as a pretty drow woman with blank eyes preceded the ambassador. The illithid had a humanoid body with an octopus-like head. They have four tentacles around a lamprey-like mouth. They began to speak, but I wasn’t paying attention. The drow woman was cute, if not clueless.

When my vision cleared, I pieced together what we had to do. Apparently the king was poisoned with something called Doom Moss. We need to travel to the Isle of the End and collect the moss so that a cure could be made from it. We need to go and meet with an illithid trader who will get us to Tradesport. We gather supplies and head to the docks next to the great undersea.

There we meet with Therix, who uses a goblin to speak through. He informs us that we will go to Tredesport. He informed us that we have to act as thralls to make it through the customs. Once we are through then we are on our own. We board the ship and head to Tradesport. It takes 15 hours and in that time I sleep.

When we arrive, we allow the illithid to enter our minds so that we can receive his commands. Once we made it past the customs he informs us of the Maelstrom, a casino that a captain by the name of Scorn frequents. He can get us to the Temple of Jergal. We go to the dingy casino, and forget everything we were told about keeping a low profile. First Clearice walks up to a strange machine. It had a level on the side and there were 3 windows in the center of the machine. There was a slot on it to insert coins. She put in a gold piece and pulled the lever. Then she entered some more. She seemed to lose more than she won.

I went to another machine and tried 20 times. I won once and for only 3 gold pieces. I got up from the machine and went to a table where people were playing cards. The goal seemed to get 21 or the dealer to make over 21. I played a couple hand and broke even. I heard some noise from another table and looked to see Pim and Clearice there throwing dice and trying to get a certain number. Clearice would blow on the dice and Pim would roll it. I watched a couple of times and bet, and won.

Then I stepped up and took my turn. It must have been the blessings of Chauntea because I couldn’t lose. I bet 100 gold and won 100 gold. I took my original bet and let the winnings ride. After a numerous wins I lost, but not till the whole casino was around the table cheering me on with free drinks and slaps on the back. I had made 700 platinum in profit.

I turned and left the table leaving Pim and Clearice at the table. I walked around talking to people and came upon a drow gentleman sitting by himself drinking. I sat down next to him and began talking.

“Hello sir, my name is Xavier.” I said as I sat down with my juice, as I wasn’t drinking alcohol.

“Hello.” He said in a friendly tone.

“What are you doing here?” I asked the man who seemed to be nursing his drink.

“I am trying to stay out of the home as long as possible.” The man said. I waived for a waitress, handed her 5 gold and pointed at the man’s drink. She accepted the gold and nodded with a smile. A moment later she came back with another drink for the man. “Thank you.” The man said.

“You’re welcome. Do you know a human by the name of Captain Scorn?” I asked.

“I think so.” He said and pointed to a lone, scruffy looking man sitting at a ‘slot machine’. “I believe that is him there.” I look where he is pointing, nod my head and begin to head over there. As I am I see Pim, with a crazed look in his face. A look of desperation. I walk up to him trying to get money from people. I pull him off to the side.

“Pim, dad, I will give you 100 platinum if you give me permission to date Amuka.” I say with a smile. He takes the gold before my hand fully leaves my haversack and smiles, wickidly, as he accepts it.

“Yes, yes, we have a deal.” Pim said and disappeared to a gambling table. I smile and walk over to the person playing the slots.

“Excuse me, are you Captain Scorn?” I say as the man pulls a lever and wins some silver. He looks up at me.

“Yes. This machine finally is paying off.” He said as he scooped up his winnings and then looked at me. “What can I do for you?”

“My friends and I are trying to get to the Temple of Jergal and hear that you make that trip.” I say to the man.

“Yes I do and will be making the trip in 10 days.” He said.

“What would it take to make the trip today?” I say to him.

“3,000 gold and we can live in 10 hours.” He said. Remembering that we have less than 7 hours before Therix has to report us as missing.
“What would it take to leave in the next 2 hours?” I say to him.

“6,000.” He said matter-of-factly. I hand the man 600 platinum. He counts and then smiles and hands be a piece of paper with numbers on it. “That is the dock number where the boat it. Be there in 2 hours and we will ship out.”

“Yes sir. See you in 2 hours.” I say and we go our separate ways. I head over to Omega who is just sitting there watching Clearice and Pim. I pull a chair up to him and inform him of the deal I struck up. He nods his head and then notices Pim trying to leave.

“I’ll grab Pim and you get Clearice and we will head over to the dock.” Omega said and heads after Pim. I walk up to Clearice and inform her of what is going on. She plays one more hand, loses and we head out. We catch up with Pim and Omega and an hour later show up at the dock where a boat, the Sea Talon, was waiting for us.

The Captain was there, welcomed us to the boat and continued to get the ship and the men ready to ship out. Pim, Clearice and Omega volunteer to help out on the boat, but the captain wouldn’t let me because I paid for the ship. We ship out and everything goes smoothly, until several hours later an alarm goes off above deck. We all rush up to the deck.

A ship is bearing down on us so Pim comes out of the Crow’s Nest and I climb up there, for a better angle. At first we couldn’t tell what it was, then when it eventually got closer we could see it was a ship made of bone, a pirate ship. When it got within range, we attacked. It was a long battle, but eventually we won. Now we need to return to getting to the temple.

Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip, that started from Raven’s port, aboard this tiny ship.

The first mate was a mighty sailing man, the crew knaves and stupid.

Amuka, HK-58, Michaela, Zimb set sail that day, for a three-hour tour, a three-hour tour.

The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed, If not for the courage of these fearless few, the widow would be lost, the widow would be lost.

The Tale of the Bludgeon

What was supposed to start out as the final voyage of captain Brig Montaeo of the Bludgeon before retiring and taking his beloved wife Merina on a cruise around the world turned out to be something far greater than any of us would have imagined. Lured on board by the promise of free food, fine weather and my first alcoholic beverage we set sail tossing a coin to the goddess of the sea for good luck.

Shortly upon leaving the harbour, while I huddled to the side I noticed something wrong with one of the ship’s lines. Calling out a warning to the captain and Mr. Wiks the candle maker, I was too late. The line snapped and caught the captain killing him. The third mate, Jerkindle, tried to revive the captain but was too late. Apparently, the captain had a curse placed upon him so when he died it would be permanent, according to the crew.

We looked into the captain’s death as the line should not have snapped let alone done the amount of damage it did to the ships railing. Unable to find anything the captain’s body was laid to rest in his quarters and guarded by two sailors. The first mate and crew thought we should keep this cruise going and so we found ourselves down below partying. I must confuse it was at this point I was given some alcohol for the first time ever. Just as I got a buzz on a storm came out of nowhere. The ship was tossed about while I stayed below being sick with the partygoer’s while the crew tries to deal with keeping the ship from sinking in the storm.

Later Jerkindle comes down and asks us if we have seen Mr. Wiks. The group headed up to check out where he was last seen but other than some claw marks and the railing being smashed, they found nothing other than a jeweled dagger. It is presumed Mr. Wiks was taken by something in the ocean. I was trying to sleep off the effects of the rum and motion of the waves when they came back to inform me of their findings.

A crash from above had us all rushing out to see the foremast in the water with two sailors, above is Jerkindle tangled in some lines and choking. HK flies up and saves her while Michaela tries to help the sailors in the water only to watch in horror as something drags them down in a red troth of frenzied bloodletting. Screaming “Fins, Bubbles and Butts Everywhere!” he scrambles back aboard the ship.

Lightning bolts fly down striking a person aboard ship. A dwarf is caught in an airlock in the bottom of the ship and appears to be drowning. No matter how we struggled we couldn’t save him even with Michaela attempting to swim up from underneath while Zimb uses magic to appear in the room and seal the door we were unable to open the latch and let air inside to save him.

Back topside HK is able to sense the presence of a threat only to watch as an invisible crew mate strikes down the first mate. In retaliation HK kills the mutinous crew member and heals the first mate. Saughin take this moment to attack some crew at the forecastle of the ship. We rushed to their defense. Finally when things settle down we get access to the captains chambers to find his body is gone, a huge whole where the windows used to be and his log book containing the name of the passengers and how he believed they were all sleeping with his wife or somehow hurt him in the past. Next to each name is a arcane mark condemning their souls to the bitch goddess of the sea.

Just as we leave his quarters with this information we are surrounded by half the crew attempting mutiny and threatening to kill the remaining party goers to stop this divine storm and all these “accidents” that are occurring. It is then we realized just how inept and stupid these sailors are since many are using the Goddesses name directly. Upon consultation we find none had offered her any tribute upon leaving Raven’s Bluff and Zimb does some quick calculations to realize that about 50 gold or a magical potion would suffice.

HK offers up one his potions and suddenly the waters calm. We quickly get the ship turned around and head back to Ravens Bluff. We race up to the widow Merina’s home to find her being drowned by a water weird or some other water elemental in the shape of Captain Brig himself. Zimb creates a pit sucking the water and tub down into the hole forcing the creature to teleport itself into the sink while still using it’s tentacles to drown Merina. Enraged I heave the table they are no on over and watch as the water weird sinks into the floor upon contact freeing Merina.

With that, the fearless few saved the Widow Merina!

Rewards

XP 1400

Jeremy’s Dagger, 400 gp = Treasury

Oil of missile weapon enchantment = Amuka (Shortbow became a Shortbow +1)
- This yellow oil will grant a +1 bonus to any mundane missile weapon normally allowed in the Living City Campaign. The entire bottle of Oil must be used regardless of the size of the weapon chosen. The oil will not work on magical items or Items of Quality. This oil will not work with Bows of Strength, but the +1 bonus is counted for both To Hit and Damage totals. The chosen weapon should be written in this space:______________________. Note: if used with a Hurled Weapon, such as a hand axe or Spear, the +1 bonus only counts towards missile attacks.

Scrimshaw scimitar+1 = Treasury
- This expertly carved whalebone is covered in scrimshaw images of arctic creatures of all kinds. This weapon is used with the scimitar proficiency.

Diving Mask = Treasury
- This non-magical helmet is ornately carved copper and has the beginnings of a lovely patina. The helmet offers no special underwater abilities but it will keep water out of the character’s eyes, nose and mouth.

Side Note / Discussion: Rolled 41 Diplomacy for leadership (pimfire), Robert updated hero points to current

Commander Pimfire’s Diary

Day 5 – Omega finally caught up with our group to help bolster our ranks. Later throughout the day, we hear singing coming from the same northern tunnel the Malphagorians came down, a group of goblins who claimed to be bards of all things. Their singing was horrendous. Poising no threat, I let them continue on their search for moss for their King Torg and advised them of the chamber we found on our way to this point.

Day 6 (morning) – a bunch of pack lizards, believed to be from the drow caravan earlier as came from same tunnel they exited by, came charging into the junction and close behind was a bunch of Dracolisks. I made the unfortunate mistake of making eye contact and learned the hard way their gaze can turn you to stone. Luckily, it was just a temporary effect and after 10 minutes, I reverted to my natural form.

Day 6 (late morning) – Just moments after my miraculous cure a group of mushroom men/woman came down from the northern most tunnel. They seemed confused by us, as we were unable to communicate except via dancing which I must say they can really move when they wish. After several minutes Clearice was able to divinely cast comprehend languages and was able to speak with them. Turns out, they were looking for a new home with access to water as drow had driven them out of their old home. Seeing them as non-threatening and understanding their plight, damn drow! I informed them of the waterfall cavern and warned them of the goblins we had sent that way earlier then we allowed them passage but not before Omega managed to teach the tallest and presumably their leader the joy of booze. On a side note, one of the mushroom people seemed particularly interested in Xavier and offered him a piece of itself.

Day 7 – Again more noise from the north eastern tunnel the Malphagorians came from drew our attention to a group of strange Derro who claimed to be looking for a “blueberry muffin” but we suspect it to be their leader’s left boot. The language barrier seemed to get more confusing and strange the longer it went on, something about drow taking it, since we had no quarrel with the Derro and the conversation was getting stranger by the moment I decided to let them pass. During the shuffle as we moved aside it seemed Clearice cast a fireball of all things upon the Derro as they passed. I tried to command her to stop as Xavier opened a barrage of arrows upon her they passed through her and into the Derro inciting them to attack us. It was only then I realized the mistake that Clearice was standing further down the tunnel and this was some strange image or illusion.

Clearice goes into a trance and suddenly screams about a large Roper standing behind me and drow hidden all around us and above. A fierce battle broke out wherein one of the female drow priestess turned out to be a follower of Juiblex as she transformed into a large black ooze/pudding but not before a pile of them came out of the tunnels to harass Omega and Clearice. I at first had my hands full with the Roper but upon seeing a single drow wielding two weapons charge into our barracks I grabbed Xavier and two guards and teleported us into the fray to save them. This left Dalarn to deal with the Drow wizards controlling the Roper.

I vastly underestimated the strength of the sword wielding drow who shrugged off my magic and reflected it back upon me both deafening and blinding me, Xavier’s arrows proved to be of little use and I was forced to use a powerful gem to summon an air elemental to help defeat the drow. Omega used a powerful staff of frost to destroy most of the ooze’s while Dalarn dealt with the wizards controlling the Roper. Suddenly a pair of bright eyes appeared claiming “Darkness is my domain” and in a flash destroyed the drow priestess of Juiblex, remaining oozes and the Roper. Realizing my blindness was really a powerful darkness spell I was able to pinpoint the drow fighter and unleash a series of arrows to finish her off for the last time.

The eyes then speak to us saying that we have proven we can handle this world below (referring to the Underdark) and offers us the blessing of the Skulking God. He also tells us many surface dwellers are forced to be removed but we are different and that our leaders are to be informed so long as we maintain a respect for the creatures below we can stay but if we do not he will restore the balance. I cannot help but feel that is a threat but one we should listen too. I consulted with Clearice and others and we believed the reference to the Skulking God is none other than Ilbrandul whom was supposedly killed or died during the time of troubles. This would account for the temple we turned into a barracks being abandoned and long run down. I think the clerical circle and those of arcane arts should purse more study on this subject quickly as if he is returning or not really destroyed then we need to be ready.

Day 8 – The detachment arrived and relieved us of our post. In short we prevailed but not without series casualties. Out of the 20 guards and Sargent Carson, 12 of the guards and the Sargent survived. One guard was lost to the dwarven vampires and the drow and oozes slew the others may their spirits rest in peace.

On our way, back we noticed the Mycoinds had set up a home in the side caverns of the waterfall chamber.

Ring of Warmth x2 = (1) Omega / (1) Treasury
- This ring continually keeps the wearer comfortably warm, allowing him or her to withstand cold weather and cold damage as if he or she had endure elements cast upon him or her and negating 5 points of cold damage per round.

Side note/Discussion: spoke with Joe regarding starting up a mercantile band to turn a profit by taking the leadership feat in the near future and having those followers form the mercantile group. Said it should be fine and that will require a diplomacy roll at the start of each game session.

Commander Pimfire’s Diary

Day 1 –Lord Blacktree tasked us to lead a band of soldiers to a crossroads, hold the position against any hostile creatures, and record whom we meet while stationed there until help arrives in a week or two time until a full contingent of soldiers arrives to secure and fortify the place. As the highest-ranking military member, I felt it my duty to inspect the soldiers and take command. Upon seeing, more had volunteered for this mission then the few Lord Blacktree had requested. I felt the more soldiers the better and besides their Sargent Carson seemed capable as did each of his men. With a total of 20 guards and Sargent Carson our band headed out.

Day 2 – It is always quiet and dark down here but the men have proven they can move silently at least to our own hearing. So far so good. We reached the point where we were told by Lord Blacktree that scouts heard running water and we investigated to find a large chamber complete with waterfalls and a small pond with plenty of fish. There used to be an old tunnel leading in other than the one we came down but a collapse years ago seemed to seal it off. Best left alone for now. We camped in this area for the night.

Day 3 – We reached a large chamber that is the crossroads we were looking for. Upon inspection, Clearice and Dalarn found an old temple that has some residual traces of magic that is fading, as it has not seen use in years. Any markings of to whom it could have been are long scratched or worn away but from what I am told it was not an evil temple. The men feel eyes on them while inside but its strategic position in the chamber gives us a base to work from and rest. I have positioned two guards at each of the five entrances leading in or out of this, crossroads and myself and the other midnight menagerie members will be rotating around when not resting to keep an eye on each.

Day 4 – Not even a full 8 hours into setting up camp an alarm is rang from the northern most passage, upon reaching it we find strange bull like creatures with saddle bags being herded by a bunch of mongrel folk to gather water from the large underground lake in the cavern of life. We hear a tale of how Grook a mongrel man well known in Ravens Deep, as he is a squire to the keepers of the flame, he recently saved them from a beholder. I decided it best to let them pass as they did not seem a threat to Ravens Deep and could possibly become allies or at least trade partners in the future.

Day 4 (6 hours later) – Another alarm is cried as coming down the other northern passage is a dwarf wearing plate mail, an open faced helm with glowing eyes who called himself Angor. Behind him are a number of undead skeleton dwarfs also in plate mail. A brief conversation with Clearice and Dalarn gained us the knowledge they were Malphagorians on their way to destroy some beholders in the area and raise them for their leader Malphagor who “needs them”. We mention a previous encounter with some of the Malphagorians such as Valcrus. Knowing we could not let them pass and raise undead Dalarn screamed out “Come Ebony! We free our brothers bodies from this cursed existence!” and engaged Angor in fierce combat. Later Dalarn would inform me the helm was of the Ironstar Clan and they aren’t undead but Angor was wearing the helm of the Ironstar clans King. A mystery as to how he came by the helm. Dalarn wishes to keep a hold of this until we encounter the Ironstar clan or another Dwarven king at least for safekeeping.

A lich then reveals himself next to Angor as three dwarven vampires materialize out of the walls surrounding Clearice. Xavier is sucked into the floor. Things started looking grim when Sargent Carson went down to the vampires draining effect but thanks to a brave man named Freddie Sargent Carson is pulled to safety before they can finish him, but not before Freddie is taken by a vampire down into the rocks. He will be missed.

The lich creates a spell engine a strange magical device that sucks up spells and gaining power. Realizing the only thing to do is to destroy it before it becomes more powerful I throw my ever burning torch into it creating a small harmful blast but destroying it before the undead can overwhelm us or it got more powerful. This allowed us to unleash a powerful barrage of magic and healing to finish them off but not Angor laughs manically “if you only know what I know” and exploded! Somehow, he managed to come out of his own blast safely but we finished him off while the Lich escaped.

Clearice realized the only way to free Xavier was to transport him to the ethereal plane and back again since his legs have fused with the stone. This is something, which she was unable to do until the following morning. Clearice also managed to reverse the vampires draining attacks against herself and Sargent Carson restoring both by the next morning.

Personal NotesI have heard much talk of beholders nearby first from the Mongrel men and now from the Malphagorians. I feel it may be a worthwhile threat to investigate and to deal with in the near future as they can be unpredictable and extremely dangerous neighbors.

Day 5 – After we are healed up a cry arises again from the northern most passage. The one the mongrel folk came down. Suddenly we are surrounded by male drow astride strange lizard creatures, which move fast among the ceilings stalagmites. A drow steps forth introducing himself as Elagon Xythr, 6th son of the 4th house of Nykanthandar. I spoke with him regarding a possible truce on behalf of his drow house with Ravens Deep. He gave me a ruby to pass along to Lord Blacktree who is to crush it if he wishes to speak further on this matter. In return, he offered to help free many Brightsword dwarven slaves from the first house of Nykanthandar. It seems they took a bunch generations ago when Clan Brightsword lived in Lower Sarbreen with the Orb of Protection. Knowing their great great grandchildren may have some knowledge of the artifact is too much to pass up so I felt it wise to let them continue on their trading mission rather than provoke hostilities and give up any chance at finding out. I know not where they headed other than the tunnel they chose is not the one leading directly back to Ravens Deep but the one southernmost next to it.

Personal NotesIt is worth noting how well informed the drow where of all of us, he seemed to know of me and the other members along with details only a surface dweller from Ravens Bluff would know. They are obviously using powerful scrying magics or have numerous informants something I am sure Lord Blacktree will wish to look into.

Rewards

To be posted at the end of each multiple part mission from now on to prevent any confusion

Sidenote/Discussion Due to personal life issues Andy will no longer be running our games and Joe will be stepping up to take over DM responsibilities for the main campaign with other members taking a rotating/turns running our lower level campaign.

At a tavern near the docks of Raven’s Bluff

Pimfire: There we were, 10 days deep into the Underdark, nothing could stop us not even a drow patrol lead by a high priestess. We slaughtered them and Dalarn retrieved a powerful dwarven crafted axe heavily enchanted that was wielded by one of their warriors. We had reached Jacinth the svirfneblin city of gems! Everywhere we looked we saw why it was called such, gems embedded in the walls of houses, gems adorning the jewelry of common folk, heck even children in the streets playing with gems as if they were marbles the size of chicken eggs!

Rufus (heckler): Yeah right! And my wife is the spitting image of Sune herself!Jarome: Maybe Sune’s backside Rufus! Everyone here has seen your wife at least once when you are out to sea.

Crowd roars with laughter!

Rufus: What are you saying Jarome?Jarome: Come on now you don’t honestly think David was your son? You were gone for a full year on that merchant run south and not even home for 6 months and suddenly Amber is giving birth to a healthy baby boy. He don’t even look like you.

A brawl ensues between Rufus and Jarome

Pimfire whistlesHEY! Look at this dagger if you do not believe me!

the two stop fighting long enough to glance up and see the dagger

Rufus: Bah, you got that from some noble. Everyone here knows you move around in those high circles.

Pimfire: No my friend this only cost me a tale and a few coppers. I am telling you they do not value gems as we do. Coffee, Chocolate, Honey, Sweets. These are things they do not have but are cheap for us and are willing to part with a gem worth thousands of gold for something we would only pay a couple coppers for. Right now, there is an envoy negotiating on behalf of Ravens Deep for rights to open trade. Now is the time I am telling you to get in on the ground floor of the Dirgeflame Consortium.

Crowd: Why should we invest with you!Another Crowd member: Yeah we can just go trade ourselves!

Pimfire: Because while many of you are brave, strong and adventurous who here speaks Undercommon? Svirfneblin? Who here is willing to stand up against the drow and their demons or the white/purple worms and other monstrous creatures that inhabit the Underdark? Why take the risk of both your money and your life when you can put your money in the hands of a capable band whom you know can make the journey as they have done so already before. Who speaks those languages and has made contacts. Why I myself have met their greatest storyteller at the temple of Calladuran their god and listened to a tale that is over 2500 years in the making. Hark! Hear how Kargemisalivian told the tale to me!

Story as told by Kargemisalivian

“So, you wish to hear the story of the Diamond of the Star? Yes, that is what we call it. The dwarves called it Orb of Protection, the Drow called it Annasherian, the Rock of Nothingness. Even the Illithid had a name for it, they called it the Great Void.

Many legends grew about the Star Diamond, but they all begin at one point. The Dwarves were celebrating a great festival, or maybe even a victory over the Drow, their hated enemy. The Diamond fell from the stars in the midst of their great throng. They took it as a sign from their gods, whom they had beseeched, for aid in combating the Drow. All this happened about 2,500 years ago, long before what you knew as Sarbreen evolved.

Now, back then the Dwarves had mages, and others that traveled the Planes. They spent nearly 100 years studying the Orb, before deciding how best to use it. They spent three years enchanting the Gem, enchanting it to absorb the essences of the various Planes. Each Plane took three years to enchant the Orb, which then spent 10 days on each Plane. Legends that I heard tell of at least Seven Planes that the Orb was sent to, though I’m sure there were more.

First the Orb was sent to Earth, where it learned to block passage, and move earth and stone. The dwarves used this power to block the Drow from their caverns. Next, after three more years of enchantment, it was sent to the Plane of Fire, where it was instilled with the ability to create flames and fire to be used against the Drow and other Dwarven Enemies. Third, the Orb shifted to the Plane of Ice, where it became able to defend itself. Legends say the Orb is encircled by a force of cold that will kill any that approach it. If this were true, I’m sure the Dwarves found or created some way to approach it.

Next the Orb traveled to the Plane of Radiance, where it became imbued with a searing light. All know of the Drow weakness in True Light. The Orb was thus enchanted to find their greatest weakness and exploit it.

But it’s most powerful strength came next, when a hardy group of Dwarven Plane Walkers took it for one year to the Quasielemental Plane of Vacuum. Legend speaks of it being lost for a generation, but there it gained its greatest known power, the ability to negate all magic…. Well, those magics that used or took up “space”. I’m sure the Drow were surprised to find that almost all of their magics no longer were effective. After this the Diamond was sent to the Positive Energy Plane. Not much is known of why, or how long, that the Orb stayed there. All that is told is that when it returned, it defeated the most powerful of necromantic spells.

Last, but most importantly, the Orb was taken to the Ethereal Plane, where it learned to move between time and space, and was able to move quickly to defeat any attack. I say learned because legends say that at this point the Orb became alive. It gained a sense of self, which the Dwarves took to believe meant the gods had taken residence in the Orb.

It was this “life” that caused the Dwarven downfall. They began to revere the Orb, which in turn began to believe in their faith. When the time came, the Dwarves did little to defend themselves, trusting in the Orb completely to defend them. The Orb had let slip much of its knowledge in its acceptance of Dwarven Faith. It could not stem the Drow attack. By the time the Dwarves realized their mistake it was far too late.

Nothing is said of the history of the Orb since then, though some say it tried to “move” ethereally to protect itself. One legend states that the Orb is stuck half way between this Plane, and the Ethereal Plane. When its appointed time nears, it will travel back here, to this plane, to the Temple where it was housed to be taken up and used once again.

The crowd is silent for a moment as the tale finishes before shouts ring out

Crowd: Where is the orb now?Crowd: Did they take to any other planes of existence?Crowd: If it lost, much of what it has learnt due to their faith would it have to re-travel to relearn everything again?Crowd: Bah, this tale is rubbish tell the one about Captain Dolly!Crowd: What other legends are there about the Orb?

Pimfire: People please one at a time! This is all I know at this time if you wish to learn more you could traverse the Underdark yourselves and ask the Svirfneblin or other races. I am sure the Drow or Illithids have some knowledge on the matter. They had names for it and would be happy to answer any questions you brought to them I am sure. (Said sarcastically)

The crowd grows silent in terror thinking about coming face to face with either of those races

Pimfire: Or you could look to the Dirgeflame Consortium instead. The choice is yours. Just watch out for drow priestess as they have a nasty habit of ripping your heart out of your chest from several paces away and clutching it while your eyes watch it beat one last time. Just ask my good friend Xavier for in retribution of slaying the drow high priestess on the way to Jacinth her family house, turns out was Faen Tlabbarr, sent an older sister along with many Glabrezu and other demons to halt us on our way back. We managed to scare them off after they ripped his heart out and luckily, for him Clearice was there to put it back in afterwords.

With that Pimfire bowed and left without answering any more questions or saying another word

- A set of two small liqueur glasses carved from single emeralds. Each is covered with carved scenes of gnomes at various tasks. 1,200 gp
- A pin in the shape of a mushroom, carved of a single milky white crystal with red spots made of garnets. 1,100 gp
- A matched set of wedding rings. Each is a braid of sapphire and diamond, shows no seams or signs of how they were constructed. 50,000 gold pieces
- Three sapphire spheres nested one inside the other. Walli used a large, flawed sapphire and hollowed it out, leaving a sphere. He then hollowed out the second. Finally he sealed the first two so perfectly that only a skilled gemcutter or appraiser could find the seam. The translucent spheres are worth 10,000 gp and can be set in a larger piece of jewelry.

- I.C.E. Statues (3): Each statue reduces the temperatures within 100 yards by 10 degrees, cumulative for each statue. This statue magically remains frozen, no matter the environment it is placed into, until the temperatures reach over 120 degrees, at which it begins to melt. The statue’s effect is not cumulative with other ice statues which produce the same effect. 1 to the Keep 2 to Raven’s Deep

- Ball of Power: When this small 4” ball is held and activated it makes the user very fearsome in appearance, brave, and as strong as a Hill Giant (Str 25) for 10 minutes. The Ball is usable once per adventure. – Dalarn

- Ebony Shadow: This Axe was created of the most delicate Deep Dwarven magic. When drawn it functions as a Axe of Speed +2, but also displaces the user as a cloak of displacement. Granting a 20% miss chance on attacks against when held. It functions continually. – Dalarn Runeaxe

- Faen Tlabbarr House Insignia: (all at 12th level) (Radiates Evil)
It is created of Drow magic and must be kept in a Drow Backpack or its magic will dissipate when taken out of the Underdark.
At will: Invisibility, Feather Fall, Comprehend Languages, Web (Non-flammable)
Twice per turn: haste, non-detection, protection from normal missiles – Was Destroyed

- Crown of Darkness – Clearice
Worn by the Mummy Priest of Set, this Crown adapts itself to fit any head it is placed on.

This protection item confers immunity to natural and magical fear, paralyzation, and petrification. The wearer cannot be magically aged as by a ghost, or harmed by chilling attacks such as the touch of a lich.

The wearer gains a +4 bonus to all undead attacks for which saving throws are allowed. This item does not confer protection against level draining.

Once per adventure the wearer of the Crown can disrupt undead as with a mace of disruption, by touch (DC 16 Will save or be destroyed). The wearer must touch the undead with his bare hand. A successful attack roll is required and the wearer of the Crown is subject to any side effects of the contact, such as AoO and level draining. Only one undead creature may be affected. If the attack misses or fails, then the power of the Crown that was called is wasted, and that power is ineffective until the next adventure.

The wearer of the Crown can see with 90 foot darkvision and always knows undead normally visible (not concealed behind barriers or within a closed coffin) for what they are.

After our recent encounter with a worm down here in the belly of the earth it was with great pleasure that a full day past with nothing of significance to report. Sadly on Day 7 we were informed there was a race of Bat like creatures called Bainligor whose leaders wish to turn into undead creatures that may be nesting nearby in an abandoned temple to some evil god the gnomes were not clear on which god that is however. Upon Day 8 we reached the point where we could investigate and did so as keeping this trail clear of threats would be important to future trade caravans between our two cities.

Upon entering this evil temple, we noticed a couple of statues dedicated to evil gods one of which was obviously Gilgeam. We swiftly encountered resistance by a few large Bainligor whose screech is quite painful. After making quick work of them we pressed onwards as Mok tossed fireballs into rooms destroying young, adults and old Bainligor alike as none of us had any desire to deal with several at once especially with those screeches.

Once we reached near the inner sanctum of this temple we entered a very large chamber with rows of pillars only to find chained up svirfneblin and drow alike amongst several undead Bainligor. After a well-placed fireball by Mok, they rushed at Dalarn and Omega and with a single touch one of them nearly slew Dalarn and raising him into a zombie like state but Clearice was able to reach him in time and reverse its effects. It was at this point that Clearice took Omega closer the largest of our foes leaving me exposed and I was forced to retreat to safety to heal up. By the time I managed to catch up to the rest of the group they had finished that group and pressed forward to encounter the leader of the Bainligor and defeat him as Clearice used a crystal beholder figure from our first foray into the Underdark when we fought the deep dragon. I am told it was a sight to behold! Sorry could not resist.

Once I caught up to them they had freed a drow prisoner who ran back to the others while we dealt with a portal leading to the negative plane of energy that was opened. After consulting with Lady Jenna and retrieving Xavier who had stayed behind with the gnomes while we explored this temple, we decided the only way to close it was to use our own life forces and touch it at the same time. I know it was risky and stupid darling but some things are worth the risk and a portal to that plane is something that if left unchecked could have brought ruin upon the entire prime material plane.

It was a strange experience as I touched it along with the others a voice rang in my head “Life or Health” and not wishing to give up my life I choose Health as did Omega, Clearice and Mok while apparently Dalarn and Xavier choose Life. Then I remember only darkness and waking up somehow more learnt in the ways of the world while others like Mok told me they felt like they had lost a part of their life’s journey.

Nearby to us in the center of the room where a series of magical items as a voice thanked us for performing such an act of heroism. As we attempted to figure out whom should get what a secret door opened and several mummies and a shade like creature surrounded us. With quickly well placed shot Xavier destroyed the shade and the mummies collapsed as the Shade turned out to be the leader and had bound the mummies to him.

We rush back to see about the prisoners only to find them gone as the drow they freed from the leader stood there holding a dark orb/ball one of the Bainligor had carried. She told us her name was Ronasucha we found out as Xavier attempted to ask her on a date Mok interceded angry to know why she was still here. Turns out she was curious as to why anyone such as us would free her and eventually hands us the orb and leaves.

Upon investigating the secret passage from whence the mummies came we discovered a massive treasure hoard enough to build a small kingdom! Upon inspection however it’s revealed to be cursed. After much debate from the others over have best to deal with this I pray to Waukeen for her assistance to repay a debt she owed. She removed the curse! For money should be spent and never hoarded away so no one can spend it.

With that we have spent the past several hours packing away the treasure and I must go for the others are nearly ready to leave.

Rewards

Third level pearl of power

Ball of Power – orb a 4-inch diameter ball in the right hand and activated with the command word “there be hill giants” you can the strength of one for 10 rounds once per week. (work in one week)

Crown of Darkness – mummy priest – It confirms immunity to fear, petrification, paralization, cannot be hurt by death touch of liches and +4 circumstances bonuses from any undead IF saving throw is allowed. Once per week the wearer can disrupt undead. Gains 90ft Darkvision. Knows undead for what they are.

Finally! Something I can really sink my teeth into down here in the Underdark. Lord Blacktree asked us to escort Lady Jenna while traveling with a group of Svirfneblin back to their city, Jacinth, on a diplomatic mission to negotiate terms for food supplies such as rothe and make allies both of which are in short supply down here.

The Svirfneblin are very interesting, Mok has been engaging them in conversation throughout the first couple of days both to help Lady Jenna gather intel for her diplomatic mission and just because learning is cool for the sake of it! Hope your studies have been keeping you busy.

Let me tell you a bit about our Svirfneblin companions. First, there is Captain Farspel Kappelcourt he is the Svirfneblin leader on this mission, he has warned us about some of the denizens we may encounter down here aside from Drow. One such creature is the Purple Worm, reportedly a very large worm like creature that eats solid rock creating massive tunnels and can swallow a person whole.

Then there is Sturliewan Mastacalatl, he is the scout of the group often charting our path through the tunnels. Xavier and Sturli have struck up a friendship after Xavier asked Lady Jenna out and was rejected, much to everyone’s amusement. Xavier introduced him to chocolate and honey among some other foodstuffs and he seemed to really like both which bode well for Lady Jenna’s diplomatic mission if we can offer a large steady supply of both to the Svirfneblin who have never had either down here in the dark. There is also a Svirfneblin named Gwinisturoc Lafftalligon who is a priest of Callarduran Smoothhands, one of their Gods.

I have learned as well that they have a unique style of entertainment where they tell stories through a combination of oratory and dancing. This is something I hope to learn more about when we reach their city. Imagine how famous I will become if I can bring back such a unique style of entertainment complete with dozens of new stories and tales to entertain the crowds around Raven’s Bluff.

However, our journey so far has not been all pleasant jokes and sharing of culture. Just 4 days on our journey to Jacinth our scout Sturliewan did not return at the usual time. Captain Farspel sent out the rest to scout and the report that came back revealed Sturliewan was taken capture by some creature. The tracks we followed led us to an underground lake that was uncommonly cold, there was chunks of ice floating around complete with penguins and a waterfall. As we saw, the tracks lead straight into the lake. Suddenly a dozen or so ice troll heads appeared in the water as they came out of the water and attacked us. Luckily, Mok had prepared a bunch of fire spells and quickly blasted the bulk of them while the rest of us finished off a couple of others but not without killing a few of the penguins. Startled the rest of the penguins fled to the far side of the lake squawking in terror.

Just as we thought we had everything under control, a white worm came crashing down on top of us from the ledge overhead! I managed to teleport myself out from under its bulk only to watch in horror as it devoured Clearice whole! I remember hearing someone screaming at Mok blaming him for summoning the penguin’s god and bringing the wrath of this white worm down upon us all. As we tried to fight the worm off a bulge appeared in its stomach moments after it swallowed Clearice, then it heaved its massive self-upwards and thrust its head down to swallow Dalarn. Moments later blades appeared through its neck and upper body as Clearice had created enough space to cast a blade barrier on it by using a token Anchor to prevent suffocation. There was chunks of it flying all over the place and when it stopped, there was Clearice majestic standing on the anchor and clutching a much shaken Dalarn covered in gore. After we all took a quick rinse in the lake we saw Sturliewan tied up on a ledge on the far side of the lake and Lady Jenna rescued him while Mok went down into the lake seeking the fabled riches that dragons and worms covet and hoard.

Behind the waterfall, Mok found a tunnel leading to its lair and some strange ice statues, which with the help of Lady Jenna we have taken with us. However, not before we destroyed one in the semblance of a Troll trying to see if they were once living creatures by breaking the ice off them. Mok and Lady Jenna believe these statues somehow create a colder environment around them. After some testing, it seems so. Sadly, this means the habitat for those penguins will steadily get warmer and eventually they will leave the Underdark or die from the heat. Nevertheless, for those in Raven’s Deep these statues could provide cold storage for foodstuff. Also amongst the statues, we find a set of prayer beads that used to belong to Callarduran Smoothhands himself! Without any hesitation, we hand them over to a very grateful Gwinisturoc Lafftalligon who cannot believe his good fortune and blessing from his god for finding them.

We continued to press onwards and on the next day (Day 5) of our journey Sturliewan, who recovered from his capture and treatment, came back from scouting to report movement of a large force up ahead. Captain Farspel orders us to stay here as he eventually moves forward with his Svirfneblin companions to see what is going on. After much waiting Mok decides to also see what’s going on to make sure the Svirfneblin are okay and with the combination of flight and invisibility silently glides through the Underdark. After several minutes, we hear his voice as he has returned to inform Lady Jenna and us that the Svirfneblin are sitting still watching a group of Myconids fight against some Spriggans.

With that, a very angry Lady Jenna leaps into action storming off to the Svirfneblin. We all follow. Once we catch up, we hear Lady Jenna berating the Svirfneblin for how they treat potential allies and immediately joins the fight against the Spriggans. With our help, we manage to save several of the Myconids who are grateful for our aid and while sad over the loss of their friends, they apparently regard death as a form of rebirth as their bodies provide nourishment to the caves down here creating growth. The Myconids give Clearice two clay jars, which hold some sort of healing salve or ointment, as a form of thanks for our help.

We continue onwards in the morning, I can only hope this recent encounter has not set back all our good deeds and will not impede Lady Jenna’s negotiations upon arrival at Jacinth.

After hearing about how angry I got Master Zimb, said I should start journaling our adventures to help me work through my “issues”. Today started off as a good day, I served Master well as we went shopping and then eventually met up with the other guild mates. I was following behind Master when a dirty young human ran up to him and handed him a scroll case. Master pulled out the parchment from within and read the letter aloud while the young human stood with his hand out expectedly.

Brave adventurer,
The City is once again in a dire situation and is in need of your services. Please come to my private home at eight bells tomorrow morning. My home is located on Divine road, in the Uptown section of the City. Breakfast will be waiting. This is a private matter, so please do not tell anyone of my invitation.
Regards,
Micah Starfire

The paper then crumbled into dust and then turned into a butterfly and flew off. (I mean it is an okay spell, but seriously? I hate these upper crust mages.) Master gave the dirty young human a bar of soap who then looked down at it confused. Master then said just joking and gave the boy a silver who then ran off. The boy was right, one bar of soap would not do the trick and recognizing this Master gave him the money to get a proper amount. We all then went home for the night.

In the morning we all got back together and for the first time I notice that Michaela is different. (Is she blind now?? I have one little bout of snout fever and everything changes.) When we get to the estate a statue greets us and instructs us to go and Knock once on the door and not to walk on the grass. (Seriously pretentious much?). We walk up to the door and Primus the Trashcan knocks once. Almost in an instance the door opens and we are greeted by Christiana a Female Elven servant who leads us to the dining table that is preset up with a large breakfast for everyone. Micah greets us with his title (Micah Starfire, retired Dean of Divination, high ranking member of the Wizards guild) and tells us we will conduct business after we eat the meals prepared by his cook. (Primus was served oil, I always wondered what he ate.) So after we ate Micah begins by telling us about a letter that appeared on his door step last night.

Micah,
It is I, Snell Sneer, your former apprentice. I have grave news. The Brotherhood of the Cloak of Mulmaster has infiltrated Ravens Bluff’s most vital bodies of government with assassins. They are protected by powerful magic that no divination spell can detect. Your pathetic city is doomed.
I, with the right price, may be able to help. As you know, I am a member, well, former member of the brotherhood of the Cloak. I was able to obtain information about the powerful magic masking the assassins. I barely escaped Mulmaster with my life. I am hiding out in a village called Halfway, North of Raven’s Bluff. I fear traveling any further knowing Mulmaster’s elite agents, the Hawks, are searching the valley for me. The assassins’ attack will happen tomorrow at midnight. They are well prepares and have researched those that they are mimicking. Questioning people will be useless.
I expect to be compensated handsomely for the information. I want you to guarantee me a total pardon from both the Mayor and Magistrate for all my past crimes. I will wait here at Halfway Village for the arrival of your agents. Hurry, for the life of you city depends on mine.
Snell Sneer.

(Okay before I recount anymore of the events of the day I feel it is my duty to say that Micah is a pretentious fool. He got a letter yesterday saying that the city is in danger of attack tonight and instead of calling us to his manor immediately. He has us come in the morning so he could display his wealth and resources by having his cook make this lavish breakfast. Seriously!)

The group began asking questions and getting filled in on the details. I honestly missed most of what was said after Thay was mentioned and I hid under Zimbs chair. (I am still working on somethings.) I did over hear that Micah took Snell in as an orphan and taught him magic. To which Snell plotted to kill Micah and take his stuff. (Yep, Thay!). So then Micah tells us that he wants us to bring Snell back unscathed and not to use any mind effecting magic on him either as to not have him forget anything (Smart). Then he gives us a letter to prove the pardon for Snell and tells us to let him know that he is willing to take Snell back as an apprentice (Fool!). He also describes Snell to us, he has yellow hair, bulging green eyes, and a distinct scar across his left cheek.

Oh and of course we are on a time crunch and have to get this done before midnight. (Again why did he wait?!?!?!?) So he gives us a map of the region around Halfway village, and tell us he will teleport us there. He then cautions us not to use transportation magic anywhere in the region as it was scared during the times of trouble and it has a slight wild magic effect. Our way back will be a shrine that is supposed to have a gate that might get us home to Raven Shire. We go to another room where Micah has a magic circle and we step into it and….
We appear in a standing stone circle, the stones have the symbol of Shaundakul on them, and there is a muddy trail that head off from here hopefully to Halfway. There is also a constant light drizzle and some very high winds that are playing with my wings threatening to drag me off into the air. After hours of traveling in the mud (I liked it, the moister and mud felt great on my scales) we reached the out skirts of Halfway. The wind was at our backs so we did not smell the sight that greeted us earlier. The village of Halfway was destroyed and burned. As we entered town corpses were strewn all about with all manors of damage and states on them. It was obvious magic played a big role.

We look deeper into the village and the carnage just gets worse. All the sudden a little girl come bursting out of a building ahead of us, her dress catches on a nail and sends her face first into the ground. The building lets out a creak and shudders, obviously getting ready to collapse. With no time to even think Amuka and Primus rush forward to throw their bodies over the girls while be and Master launch spells. My ice ball slams into a chunk of the building deflecting it away as Master’s pit opens up under the side of the building to redirect the direction of collapse. Unfortunately the building still collapsed partially on our companions. Michaela grunted and grimaced as debris slammed into Primus and Amuka, commenting that we are real brave when it is not your health at risk. The little girls was thankfully unharmed, and emerged from our friends huddle crying.

I rush over to my companion’s side to see Primus heal the little girl while Amuka tries to talk with her. She says her name is Alysha. She relays her story that the city was attacked by a man in purple robes and a woman in red with no hair and tattoos on her head. (Great a Thayian Wizard) With them was a great ball with a central great eye and all the tentacles with eyes on its head, she told us with her little fingers in a fan shape on her head wiggling them. Despite the horror that she was referring to a beholder it was cute. The girl taking notice of me ran up and embraced me in a great big hug, asking me if I was indeed a dragon. I tell her that I am indeed a dragon and call her a Princess and she does not let go of me. They ask her about Snell and she says she had seen him but did not know where he was.

With Princess Aylsha in toe we go and explore the rest of the town, I focus my attention on my new best friend. I try to keep her distracted from all of the additional death everywhere around us. Eventually primus says that he has found what he believes to be giant tracks, and after some debate the group agrees to follow them. We walk for hours, I play games with the Princess along the way. Our travels were cut short when a boulder slams into the ground ahead of us, obviously thrown by something huge and obviously a warning. A loud voice demanded to know who we are and what we were doing out there. We had found ourselves surrounded by 8 Giants with grey skin. I heard some back and forth when I heard on of the giants say we were not friends as they did not know who we were, so I introduced myself. After me and this giant Grok became acquainted they told us where we could find the people responsible for attacking the village. Apparently the Giants were friends with the villagers and built their walls for them. (Oh and Giants use Cows for currency, who knew?) We asked for their help and after a moment of cowardly talk another Giant named Boomboom was voluntold to help us. The Giants recognize me as a dragon and Alysha told them I was her dragon, they could not have me. I ask Boomboom if I and the Princess can ride on his shoulder, to which he agreed to Alysha’s great delight. She tell me that this is the most amazing adventure and gave me a big hug telling me I am the greatest. (I think I love this little girl). I spend the ride playing more games with Princess Alysha, Boomboom joined in, Alysha loved it.
Boomboom led us to a valley where he says the enemies are lying in wait. We leave Boomboom and Princess Alysha behind and try to sneak ahead. As we snuck ahead lightning exploded all around us, hitting all of us except Michaela. A voice boomed in the distance and Boomboom hurled a boulder into the clearing ahead. The next thing was chaos, four half orcs appeared around us two ahead on two above. As Crossbow bolts ran down on us the man in purple a cleric of Cyric appeared ahead of use as did they Thayian woman. A fire ball exploded among us and almost dropped me, but I finally learned what Michaela’s new skills are as I slowly began to heal. Master attempted to do some magic and disappeared. I went full dragon on the enemy spitting acid balls as I worked my way to being in range of the Thay. Rage in my heart, and seeing red I pulled out a powerful scroll I found earlier and called forth its magic, a bolt of Acid slammed into the Thayian bitch striking her down. Shortly thereafter the battle was over and we stood victorious.

We searched the bodies and the area finding Snell tied up, upside down to a tree (I wish we could have just left him there). Snell would not shut up criticizing us and calling us worthless, he was a real ungrateful prick. Disgusted and so I did not drown Snell in Acid I went back to Boomboom and the Princess. I thanked Boomboom for his hurling boulder expertise and protecting Princess Alysha, he told me to come back and see him again and went back home. The group caught back up to me and had Snell following apparently we were all heading to the shrine.

Along the way It took all of my strength not to kill Snell as he spoke more and more like a Red Wizard. Going on at length in great detail about torturing a Harper (I personally like Harp Music), taking credit for poisoning the well in Tantress, and other deeds. All of these things he said in front of Princess Alysha. I tried my best to keep her distracted. To top it off it is muddy and now raining, so he is also complaining about the traveling conditions and the weather. (I was secretly hoping for a lighting strike on him) As we grew closer to the shrine and had got back on a road or sorts we spotted a wagon ahead of us. Amuka snuck ahead and after seeing that Master was on the wagon berated him for being with other women (I did not know Amuka had such feelings for my Master). Master Introduced us to the two traveling companions (Corrina and Sasha, I will not forget you, my sworn enemies) he had met and was offering to take them with us to Ravens Bluff. They told us of a riddle at the Shrine but admitted to only knowing part of the solution.

As we drew close to the Shrine we were buffeted by strong winds and noticed another symbol of Shaundakul glowing on another raised stone. To make the day even more fun we also saw that there were two large Beholders in the sky trying to fight the winds to reach us and they would quickly be upon us, so we set to solving the riddle. The riddle was actually just to match cities with their appropriate taglines. (I didn’t realize there was going to be a test, and on world geography no less.)

With that we were all teleported to Raven’s Bluff as we named that our destination. (Snell unfortunately appeared in the some condition we teleported in) I tried to take Alysha with me as we left but instead the group decided that we should leave her with Corrina and Sasha. So I had to leave my Princess. We ran to Micah’s Manor to of course, as the security in this city seems to be almost nonexistent, find some evil guy Snell calls Nefarious instead of Micah. They said a bunch of things, Snell’s part of the Black Network, Manchune is his boss, and they are from the Zentarnum. They Kidnapped Micah wanted to trade for Snell and the magic spell, I did not believe Micah was still alive and said no so did others. Nefarious and his elite guard attacked us. Michaela apparently decided now was the time to share her vision impairment with us, and told me to abandon Amuka who we could all hear getting cut down outside of the fog she summoned. I used my Staff to summon a powerful Azata to our aide and we turn the battle back into our favor and crush Nefarious.

We rush to the wizard’s guild and they figure out a counter to the spell, find Micah dead with a poison dagger in his back (see I knew it), save the uppity ups, and to my delight imprison Snell. Micah is also outside of any magic’s capability to resurrect. As soon as they will let me I rushed back to retrieve the Princess only to find out that the two kidnappers had taken Princess Alysha out of the City to who knows where. I want to go hunt them down. I now have a new enemy, Red Wizards and those two.

Princess Alysha I will find you, I will save you.

Your dragon is coming.

REWARDS

Each Player Receives:
- 1,900 XP
- Contingency – Fly at 16 Level (Swift action to activate, one time use)

Each Player Receives the following ONLY if they don’t already have one or better:
Cloak of Resistance +1,
+1 Light or Medium Armor (CRB Only) or Bracers of Armoring +3
+1 Weapon (CRB Only)
+2 Primary Stat Item
Handy Haversack

Wow! My father always told me that the Devillars where the pillar of leadership and society here in Raven’s Bluff. So when a summons came one day to meet with Drake Devillars, the Black Knight himself, we couldn’t refuse. We meet up with him at the Wyvern’s Nest where he asked us to help save his brother Ramsey Devillars and his bride-to-be Revelmistress Rachel Arren who were kidnapped recently following a family celebration of their upcoming nuptials. The ransom is for some powerful magical items. It appears that a person calling himself or herself “The Green Bard” is behind all this and is working with a group called the Bloody Fang. They are an evil organization bent on world domination and for the past 100 years or more have been operating in Raven’s Bluff. It is rumored they are behind the planar creatures and evil artifacts that occasionally plague the city.

Drake hands us the ransom, directions to the drop off and gives us directions to save his brother and bride but if possible prevent the magic items from being taken by the Bloody Fang, as some are very powerful evil artifacts. As we go to leave the tavern I could not help but overhear a female singer mangle a song that I have heard my father sing before. Its then I realize that it is most likely code to meet up later at Horseshoe Falls and inform my friends. We head out and on the way meet up with the singer at the rendezvous who introduces herself as Sheenra a Harper Agent who is on the trail of trying to stop the Bloody Fang. She tells us a bit of history regarding the Harpers and the group, it involves the Fang’s ultimate goal to bring back a very powerful Lich known as the Harper King to destroy and enslave the world.

Sheenra knows of a place nearby village we can get more information. Once we arrive, we find death and destruction. While inspecting the corpses some of them rise up and begin to attack in a state of undeath. We finish them off to find a lone survivor, a little girl named Katelyn, she tells us that a bard wearing all green showed up the day before a bunch of undead creatures attacked the village. We burn the bodies and promise to return to Katelyn on our way back from the ransom drop.

After a hard days ride we finally reach the drop point, some trees circle an altar in the middle of a clearing. I climb up a tree to hide and await the opportunity for a surprise attack if the party needs. After a short period of waiting, a cloud of fog rolls in to the altar and stepping out is Ramsey Devillars complete with canine like fangs! Wolves howl in the distance. It is clear he is not kidnapped and reveals that he was trying to lure his brother Drake Devillars out of the city where he would be able to kill him. Ramsey mentions he has been turned into a vampire for months now and his family has had no clue! He is now working for the Bloody Fang.

We could not allow Ramsey to survive so we attacked; he quickly summoned a large group of bats to distract us as he went invisible. Using a magic pearl I recently acquired I managed to see through his invisibility and help direct my friends to his location. We slew the bats and hurt Ramsey until he had to flee as mist back to his coffin.

We returned to Raven’s Bluff and the Devillars estate to inform them of what has befallen Ramsey. There Drake Devillars tells us he is most likely hiding in the family crypt and gives us the key to enter and finish him off and hopefully find Revelmistress Rachel Arren. At the crypt we find a pile of skeletons and other undead who are quickly destroyed. Then searching the Sarcophagus HK finds Ramsey asleep and stakes his heart while Sheenra lops off his head. Searching the crypt we find Rachel in a nearby Sarcophagus and after a quick inspection to make sure she isn’t a vampire as well we awaken and return to the Devillars with our mission complete.

REWARDS

2600 XP each

1,000g each from Drake the Dark Knight

1 Chiv point for each Knight or Squire this game
1 Harper Recognition point each

1 Blessing from temple of Lliira (can be used for a service at 16 lvl)
- Remove Blindness
- Remove Disease
- Remove Curse
- Transmute Stone to Flesh

Globe of Cirulon (10 charges) = Amuka’s Handy Sack – an extremely fragile crystal sphere embedded with chips of gold, copper, silver, brass, and bronze.
Once per day can cast Heal at 12th level for 1 charge.
User does NOT need to be a divine caster to use this item.

Ring of Life Protection (6 charges) = HK-58
This ring will negate the effects of 6 levels worth of level drain and then crumble to dust.

LC5-121

We were interrupted at breakfast time by an invitation to appear before a man named Anduri at the docks. Of course, we agree to the invitation and head towards what will surely be our coming demise. As we near the docks of the Ravens’s Bluff a ship comes gliding into the port where we were told to meet this Anduri. The side of the ship read as Perniphus Conjurer. With no visible crew from the docks, we head up the gangplank that seemed to have lowered itself to meet us. Upon the deck, we found it devoid of life and found nothing else but a lever and building. Upon entering the building we found ourselves in some sort of extra-dimensional room. It was littered with curios of all sorts and a log book with a group of names. We see on a table in the room that we are to sign the log book to begin our game. Upon the chairs, in the room, i find a rule card that says our only rule is that we cant break anything in the room and may kill our opponents. As other investigate the other anomalies in the room I approach a rather large barrel full of water in the far corner of the room. I notice that down inside of it is a tiny figurine and I proceed to dive int to retrieve it. Of course, this was not a very good idea as it turned out the water was alive and attempted to drown me. This had no effect on me but had nearly succeeded and killed that adelcove who tried to rescue a creature who needs not breathe air. I escape the water with the figurine as the adlecove escaped as well. We place the figurine on a nearby miniature ivory throne to which the throne turns 45 degrees.

Next, we turned our attention towards the large mounted fish on the wall with a clock embedded inside of it. On this fish, there was a switch with a sun and moon with the sun currently on. We switch it over to the moon causing a panel on the ceiling to shift revealing sparkling pearls on the ceiling in the pattern of the stars of the Fire Coast. After this discovery we turn to the next challenge a simple game board with pieces that looked like my group and I. Of course, this might not have been our next choice had one of our party not put there piece on the board and disappeared. The game was known as the trials of the deep. It consisted of trials that tested all of our abilities to which I conquered. As I entered a large golden doorway I saw only blackness. Then I found myself before a very old ringwalker who thought I was his servant. For some reason, at my questioning of his existence, he seemed to keel over and die but not before telling me he was Perniphus conjurer. I then was back in front of my party with the old man still dead. We realized he shared the name of the ship and was also the first person in the log book and sat him down on the chair in the room with the initials PC. Upon sitting him there an obsidian skull on the nearby bookshelf opened its mouth to reveal a ring of nine keys that opened up the door that we had came in from. This was only a small victory as we realized we were actually inside of the ship in the bottle that rested atop the bookshelf with the skull and the blue-skinned meatbags that had been on the display ship challenged us to combat. After a quick battle, we deduce that we must steer the ship based off of the stars above us as if heading to points on the Fire Coast. After heading towards The Raven’s Bluff fails we decide to head towards Calaunt, the home of Perniphus as it said in the log book. As we align the ship a meteor comes crashing from the sky towards us. We quickly realize it is not a meteor but one of the pearls set in the ceiling above the model ship. We run inside to find the pearl on the ground and not knowing what to do with it the new small meatbag produces some talking clam that says this is someone specifics pearl to which the draconic one puts it in his mouth than in the mouth of the old ringwalker. After a moment of it being in his mouth, he springs back to life and explains what has been happening to us and why we are here. Something about him insulting some waterbag creature and that creature than trapping him here for others to come rescue him. As we exit the small building for the final time we are presented with gifts from we can only assume Anduri for completing his challenge with a message about not insulting waterbags. Thus we return once again to our day to day lives waiting for the next challenge to come our way and test our abilities.

Stuff:

3,375 xp

5 Pearls of the Marid (3 charges each)
Worth 1,000 gp (3,000 gp with all charges remaining)
Can cast the following spells at 26th level.
Each casting costs 1 charge

Brief Note: Andy started this game on Dec 19th, 2017 but due to time was forced to finish on Jan 25th 2018 where Joe took over to DM for the final session. Morrin was present for the first half in Dec 19th but decided after New Years he needed to take a break due to life/work/time.

Dear Journal,

I find myself weary, nervous and exhausted from stress and worry. My journeys with the Midnight Menagerie have taken me to the celestial heavens and down into the literal hells but most of all they have brought me my daughter Amuka who has been a shining star that lights my way home after each adventure. Now I find she has run off with our junior group of explorers gallivanting all over town and getting into fights. What is a parent to do? I worry for her safety but I know she will not be a child forever.

I know that as a parent who is often absent out adventuring myself I have not exactly been the perfect role model for her yet I can’t help but be both proud of her daring do attitude and worried for her safety all at the same time. It does not help now that Xavier has grown younger! And tells me he is attracted to Amuka, I think he does this simply to get under my skin but if he does have intentions on my daughter he’d best watch himself. Wait can it be I’ve forgotten to tell the tale of how Xavier became a teenager again? Oh dearie me. Well I best put that story to paper.

It began like all others in the middle of the night a summons, off to a tavern this time the Sleepy Dwarf, where we meet with a member of the wizard guild named Regina Picklelow. She told us of a missing agent of theirs, held on the plane of Gahanna by agents turned evil named Snell Sneer who is reputed to be a powerful alchemist. Upon the plane of Gahanna is an army of fiends gathering to come through a portal that has appeared here in Raven’s Bluff. Our mission was to go through the portal and destroy it, recover the missing agent and stop Snell Sneer.

Just as we are about to leave some Duergoloths appear with their five arms and attack us in our tight quarters. Mok screams out they are poisonous, immune to poison and acid along with resistant to cold, fire and electrical attacks. We made short work of them and stepped through the portal.

We arrived on Mungoth (Gahanna) to falling acidic snow. Here divination spells only work if you stand in the dead entrails of a foe and elemental magic along and necromantic magic is more powerful, water based spells will not work here however. While most of us are entranced by the fiends found below fighting/training, I work to destroy the stockpile of weapons found nearby by dragging them one at a time to the portal and throwing them through. Meanwhile Dalarn realizes the portal is made of Ironwood and quickly sets to with an axe chopping the framework up destroying the gate and achieving one of our mission goals.

With the fiends, none the wiser for this act we move upwards on the mountainside until we reach a building. As we inspect the first floor we are teleported into what appears to be a garbage room when a wizard appears and threatens us, Dalarn threatens him back that he will stick an axe in his groin at which point the wizard disappears sticking some snake creatures upon us. We defeat them only to have a huge demonic hydra come through the walls spitting poison everywhere. A blade barrier from Clearice and some well-placed blows by Omega finish it quickly as the rest of the group rushes through the new entrance to a set of stairs out of all the poison I rummage through the garbage and hydra to find a scroll and a potion bottle.

We follow the stairs upwards into a room where the same wizard is torturing two humans, this wizard had a few henchmen and a demon. I had to flee the fight to regroup after blood was literally pulled from my body but came back to see/find that the wizard we fought was a homunculus and the real wizard was behind a fake wall. It was a tough fight but Dalarn fulfilled his promise as the wizard was bathed in a fire shield spell, blow after axe blow landed until Dalarn’s final blow to the wizard’s crotch dropped both him and the wizard. Clearice rushed over to heal Dalarn and put out the flames licking his body.

The missing agent was saved, we looted the wizard only to find a soul gem and a powerful staff, searching the rooms we find a alchemy lab. There unknowingly I concocted a strange potion that looked a lot like chocolate only to have that chocoholic loving Xavier grab it and drink it. As we, all watched in amazement as his facial, hair receded and his build shrink a bit. Turns out it, was some sort of longevity potion and made Xavier 10 years younger. So now, he has to go through puberty again. Clearice mixed up a quick concoction herself before Mok used a device to return us back to Raven’s bluff where the soul gem of the wizard was destroyed and we were thanked for our services.

Rewards

Potion of Climbing (4 doses) – Treasury
+10 for 1 hour per dose

Sword of Gehenna (Forged in Gehenna) – Treasury
+3 on Outer Planes
+2 on Astral Plane
+1 on the Prime
+0 on the Ethereal

It has been a long time since my last entry. I can only blame myself for being busy with patrolling the Underdark on behalf of Raven’s Deep and spending what free time I had with my daughter Amuka. Since her capture/rescue from the Triad’s she has begged to learn how to defend herself and has spent countless hours in study of the wizardly arts along with learning how to handle a dagger from Grink. I fear where this may lead her but I find I do not have the heart to stop her education, as I know no matter how much I may wish it I will not always be around to protect her. Especially since duty has been calling me away to various planes of existence and I never know if I will make it back home. Sigh. I wonder if this is how all parents feel towards their children.

Case in point us senior members of the menagerie were recently ushered to the wizard’s guild and to the tower of Prophecy. There a robed wizard was working on some strange formula that Omega tried to explain was wrong due to the use of letters in his mathematics. After we attempted to explain algebra to Omega the wizard told us that today was a “special” day in the universe and wanted us to travel to the Astral Plane to trade a box for another box to somebody called “the Seeker”. He mentioned someone who used to be called “Asphometh” is trying to become a God on the Astral Plane and we were to avoid him at all costs and not to wake the dead god Moander up. How you could do that, I will never know or care to know and hope no one knows.

Given some rubies and told that we could use them to return to our plane of existence and not to let them fall into anyone else hands we were whisked away to find ourselves floating in the Astral Plane. Since many of us had been here before it was moments before we had adjusted our way of thinking to move and speak and we set out to find this “Seeker”. Along the way we encountered some guards but an amulet we were given gave us safe passage and we made the trade safely. This “Seeker” was using some cosmic machine trying to catalogue its various effects and many of the menagerie offered themselves as Guinea pigs. Omega and Morrin did not seem to do anything untoward other then a stiff breeze for Omega. Mok gained the ability to calculate the value of an item at a glance, Clearice tried to take up acting (as if!) while Xavier ended up with a temporary tattoo, which faded. I refused to risk it as someone was bound to draw a short straw and end up being turned into a puddle of goo or some monstrous creature. With that, we left the structure and headed back towards our entrance on the Astral Plane.

We should have known it would not be that easy. As we exited the structure several Githyanki attacked us, after a brief struggle I attempted to use my ruby to return home only to creature some magical wave that gripped all of us and shunted us off into another plane of existence. Turns out it was Avernus, the first plane of Hell!

As we gathered our bearings an Angelic creature calling herself Lamaunia appears. She claimed to be the servant of a powerful merchant/wizard named Beliakas back in Raven’s Bluff offers to help us if we’d sign a contract promising a favor for this wizard. After Morrin and Xavier agree to sign the contract she offers us information on how to get our rubies back and return home. She explains we are on Mount Hellspeak overlooking the field of Megiddo where hordes of demons fight tanari in a never ending battle. Our rubies are in the Pit of Pestilence on the other side of the mountain. Which meant up and over a mountain and down into a dark pit of disease before we could return home.

Along the way something crazy happened to Mok and he tried to convince us to attack a group of wounded blue dragons we saw land upon the mountain. I figure kick em’ while they are down is a sound strategy but after a few moments he comes to his senses and we decide to avoid killing dragons here and pissing of Tiamat who Mok remembers resides in Hell somewhere.

We eventually reach the pit which has several dead bodies inside its first main chamber. After Clearice communes with one of the corpses it’s found out that they served Tiamat and where supposed to guard the pit. Something about a Balor attack and Batezu guarding the pit. He also tells us about a stash of coins he buried while alive but it’s too far away to risk the trek so we press onwards into the pit.

Eventually traveling through the smoky pit we encounter some Vrocks, Giant Bugs, Goristro and a Glabrezu. Omega managed to finish off a Goristro and saved the day when he charged back into the main fray after almost everyone had fallen from various wounds.

As we near a chamber there is an awful stench. Finally we find what we surmise to the be “the Pit of Pestilence” for in the middle of the chamber is a huge pit and we all start to feel nauseous and sick. Xavier manages to keep us steady and healthy as we examine some side tunnel before heading through a passage directly opposite we came in. After a while we all get the impression to turn back as it seems this tunnel I wished to explore first is leading nowhere but Mok confirms this is the right way and we continue onwards to find ourselves at the entrance to a temple chamber. Inside is a large statue of GRINK!

Inside a bunch of priests and warriors scream out “Infidels!” and attack us. Before I know what is going on Omega charged into the room screaming we should stop fighting! As I pass the doorway pain wracks my body and blood oozes out my nose. A demon slams into me as I sit atop Omega and I fall off him into unconsciousness. I wake up as healing magic floods into my body and the battle is raging. Omega is rushing around pleading for people to stop the violence. Seeing me he picks me up and brings me deeper into the room to hide behind the statue. It’s there the Lord High Jackal, The High Priest of Set (we found out his title later when we made it home) attempted to severe my soul and bind it to Hell for all eternity. I manage to resist but felt cold’s deathly touch none-the-less as blackness once more claimed me.

I awoke to find my friends gathered round and us back on the material plane in the wizard tower of Prophecy. There we returned the recovered rubies, the box we traded for and received our reward and thanks.

Rewards

- Boon of the Wizard Guild = everyone got this
They will cast Stone to Flesh or Dispel magic (lvl 15) once

- Dose of Regular Rosy Extract = everyone got one
magical oil once applied to an item gives it +1 bonus saving throws / +10 HP to the item saves being destroyed / risky as could destroy item in attempt to apply

- The Menagerie chipped in and paid for the recreation/restoration of Dolly (Mok did the work) for Omega

- One Dose of Regulus’s Dark Derivity = Omega used on Dolly
protects an item from being destroyed ONCE

The Summer Solstice Festival had come back to Ravens Bluff and Michaela was enjoying the comradery and food that it brought with it. She was there with her friends: Veth, Khad, Trashcan, Zimb and the new friend they had met over the week, Finn. He seemed cool and easy to talk to and Michaela liked having a new friend.

While she was eating a bacon-wrapped apple bells started to ring, ‘dang it’ she thought, ‘we forgot about the wedding.’ The group hurried to the event and arrived in time to see Kima Greyleaf walking down the aisle toward Jean-Dorial Encarthan.

Kima wore a plunging, sweetheart neckline that was paired with a beaded, illusion high neckline to create a unique – and sparkling – statement. The unique, rich beading was layered to create shapes, and when added with the lattice detailing and scrolling lace, extended down through the bodice over the hips, shaping her body perfectly. The Bellagio crepe skirt of her gown was sleek and sophisticated and created an understated sheath silhouette. Low, sheer cutouts adorned each side of the gown before extending into an open back, complete with illusion tulle giving the illusion of floating, beaded straps. The back of the wedding dress zipped up beneath fabric buttons. To top it off she wore a diamond tiara on her head.

After tearing her eyes from the vision that was Kima, Michaela noticed that there were a lot of important people from Ravens Bluff attending the wedding. ‘The free food has nothing to do with that’ she thought to herself while smiling and the personal joke. Lord Chester D’Marke oversaw the wedding and it was a beautiful service.
After the clapping dies down and the newly married couple takes their places at the end of the buffet line, Michaela and the rest of the guest get in line for food and to wish the new couple well. While in line the older members of the Midnight Menagerie are there and the 2 groups converse while getting food and moving closer to the new couple.
Soon there are only 2 women in front of Michala and her friends and her plate is full, she is happy. As she steps up, with her friends, and began speaking with Jean-Dorial, the 2 women began speaking with Kima.

“Congratulations sir, it was a beautiful wedding,” Michaela said when she stepped up.

“Thank you,” Jean replied.

“Here you go, sir,” Veth said and handed Jean 5 Platinum.

“Thank you, kind Luck Dragon,” Jean says when he receives the gift. Veth starts to smile and walk around with pride from being called a Luck Dragon. The others give gifts and talk with Jean for a moment longer preparing to speak to Kima when there is a cry from Kima. They all look to her and see one of the women, both old, with her arm around Kima’s neck. As the onlookers see this, the woman begins to transform into a horrible looking monster.

Her companion warns Jean not to do anything so his bride stays safe. She pulls out a holy symbol of Shar, hisses at the crowd and then both women and Kima disappear. All hell breaks loose. The older members try to ascertain the situation while bystanders and normal members of society are frantic and began making noise ranging from whispers of fear to screams of disbelief.

Suddenly a loud and clear voice is heard above the chaos. It is Jean-Dorian. “Please, we must stay calm. This situation demands clear and calm minds. Those of the guests, who are not adventurers or military, please return to your home. When information is found out or new given, you will be informed.” He said with clear authority and then gave the bystanders and nonmilitary and adventuring guests time to evacuate the area. When they were gone he turned his attention to the remaining people.

“For the rest of you, I am going to need help in rescuing my wife, or recovering her dead body if it comes to that.” As the words left his mouth, for a brief moment, his demeanor cracked and all could see the vulnerable man beneath the bravery. Then he was back to his brave self. The military and adventuring groups began sectioning themselves off and assigning tasks to the groups. Veth went to Jean-Dorian and provided some information about the women who had done this.

Apparently, the woman had been purchasing property around town and when confronted said they were a follower of a god that was not Shar. They were also responsible for the Were-creature outbreak that had occurred in the Sewers. Jean-Dorian directs Veth to the city guard and the same information is conveyed to them. They thank him and the rest of the group for the information.

When the group arrived back at the staging area they saw that Lord Chester D’Marke was attempting some spells.
“For some reason, I am unable to locate Kima.” He said to Jean-Dorian. Jean’s face fell slightly, but for only a moment. Lord D’Marke continued. “I was able to ascertain some information with my Augury Spell, but it is not good.” He is about to convey the information when screams can be heard from onlookers. We turn to see what is happening and people are staring and pointing to the sky, we look up.

If the sun was a pie, it was missing slices, and more were starting to appear.
“Judging by the rate of disappearance we have about 2 hours before the sun is completely gone.” Lord D’Marke stated to the group around him. “We need to find Kima before the sun disappears or all is lost. Do we have volunteers to assist in the hunt?” All of the members of the Midnight Menagerie step up and volunteer.
Michaela and her friends are assigned 3 buildings near Lake Christina. They are to gather information and report back with anything suspicious. All of the teams are asked to come up with a codename so that information can be disseminated quickly; they name themselves The Unlucky Dragons. Before heading out Michaela takes some of the food from the buffet and loads it into their cart and then they head out.

They arrive at the first building. There it stood. Michaela had walked past it several times and she had never seen it. It shocked her, the idea that someone could have lived in this very building. The walls, so tall and never-ending, encircle them as if they were the victims of an ambush. They then noticed almost forcefully, the windows had curtains covering them. This didn’t seem to match the outside of the building.

The group watched as Khad ran to the building and jump kicked it for no apparent reason, but no one said anything. He then decides to go and talk to the neighbors to get information about the building, almost as if in frustration. As he walks off, Trashcan decides to open the front door and go in. The rest of the group followed Trashcan from room to room. During the search, Zimb found a book called Chemical Gardening that seemed to intrigue him and Veth.
During the search, the group finds and Alchemical Lab. While searching through the lab they find a letter:
Jillian,

Please use this property to store the weapons and other equipment that I ordered from you. I don’t expect to need the items until after the event, so make sure threat they are well protected, and will not rot or rust in the meantime.

Take Care,

Harven

After checking the house one more time, Zimb starts to pack up the Alchemical lab. Michaela starts packing the cart with what he packs up. The group finds a scroll with powerful spells, Veth takes them with Zimb’s permission. During the packing process, Michaela hears an explosion from inside the house. She finishes packing the last box and then rushes inside. Apparently, Veth and Trashcan were trying to open something and they triggered a trap, they seemed to be ok.

After everyone was done with the building the group packed up and proceeded to the next building. On the way there they came across the City Watch being attacked by Bug Bears. The group parked their horses and cart outside of the battle area and waded in to assist the watchmen. The fight was tough but ended with Khad kicked the last one in the groin and killed it. We were only able to save 4 of the 10 watchmen.

After talking with the watchmen and discovering that Bren might be the one responsible for the Bug Bears they preceded to the next building. As they searched this building, they discovered that it had a basement. The team separated into 2 units: 1. Finn, Michaela, and Khad stayed upstairs while 2. Zimb, Veth, and Trashcan went into the basement. Almost as soon as the 2nd group went downstairs Zimb yelled for the 1st group to come down quickly.
The 2nd group was being attacked by some strange looking dogs. They were attacking Trashcan and…eating his armor. Maybe more like melting it. the 1st and 2nd group combined and finished off the dogs without further injury, although Trashcan lost his armor in the fight. They search the room and find piles of rust, wooden shafts and crumbled barrels and boxes.

After searching the building thoroughly, they leave and proceed to the last one. On their way there they come across a mob of people outside of the Temple of Selune. They are accusing them for the disappearance of the sun and the calamities that will befall them. The group run and put themselves in between the mob and the Temple. They try different approaches to calm the crowd, some more effective than others.

Veth steps forward and promises the crowd that the Midnight Menagerie will save the city. With the promise coming from an established group that has done many good services for the city, the crowd disperses. The group tries to take a moment and catch their breath but then there is a loud noise coming from down the street. They look to see what the cause of the commotion is.

Coming down the street and toward the Temple are all sorts of beasts. They look frantic, panicked and a little hysterical. They are aiming toward the Temple and the group. From behind the group spilling out of the Temple is more beasts and at a closer examination, the group realizes they looked staggered. They begin collapsing in front of the temple as the others from down the street join the pile. Michaela and her friends go inside the Temple.
As they enter the temple they run into the lycanthrope bear they attacked a few weeks ago. This time they raise their hands in surrender and the bear doesn’t attack. They try to communicate with the bear but it can’t seem to transform out of its hybrid form and can only grunt out one word at a time through growls and snorts. It’s enough to figure out that the Lycanthropes are in trouble and something needs to be done.

The group proceeds to leave the temple and head to the 3rd building but as they are they see the pile of beasts and decide to take a moment and get them inside the temple where they can be protected. When they are finished they head to the 3rd and final building. When they arrive, the sun disappears.

Inside the building, voices can be heard, chanting. Khad rushes to a window as Trashcan charges the front door. Seeing that the door is open, Trashcan rushes inside, Fin and Michaela move to the door on one side and Khad on the other. Zimb is a few feet away and Veth steps to the open door. He pulls out the scroll from earlier, says some stuff while waiving his wings and tail and suddenly black tentacles burst from the ground.

The tentacles wrapped around the occupants of the room and before anyone could breathe and shattered their physical bodies. Their spell caster, a woman in the back, survived a little longer, but she eventually succumbed. As Veth saw the destruction he had caused he walked by the carnage, “Unlucky Dragon? PSSHH.”

After the spell is dispelled by Veth, we loot the bodies, but there is nothing really left except for amulets with the symbol of Shar on them. Floating in the middle of the room is an object that Michaela and her friends could only describe as a big dark jewel. They leave it alone and search the rest of the building. The only thing they find is in the basement. In the basement, they find a door that seems to be bursting with magic. So much power in the fact that the members of the group that can detect magic have to stop because it’s overwhelming.

The group spends time trying to break into or open the door and they can’t. Michaela goes upstairs and with her sword pushes the jewel down the stairs and near the door, still nothing. Eventually, it becomes clear that they have done all they can for now and Trashcan uses the conk he was given to summon the Grey Machine. Soon they arrive Zen Blacksteel – Elven Fighter, Amilia – Halfling Invoker, Conner – Dwarven Fighter/Priest of Muamman Duthanol, Annalee – Half-elf Priest/Wizard of Mystra, Marcus Deland – Human Swashbuckler/Wizard.

As they enter they congratulate the group on a job well done. They also inform them of a few details that have only been ascertained recently: 1. The Jewel we found is an orb of Shar and it is called the Lunar Orb. It has great summoning power over a large area. 2. They know someone is working with the followers of Shar. We were asked to escort the orb back to the others at Raven’s Park. We accept.

On their way back to the park, the orb explodes and a sentient whirlwind of flame burst forth and attacks the group. There is a fight and in the melee, Veth and Michaela are blinded. After the demon is vanquished, Veth and Michaela are loaded into the cart and brought to the park. There Amilia heals them all and the group reports to Jean about what happened.

To activate, the user must pour a vial of holy water in the 2 inch diameter bowl and meditate over the bowl for 1 round. Any monster summoning spell cast by the user on the following round summons monsters of the next highest category. (ie a monster summoning I spell would instead summon creatures normally called by a monster summoning II) Number of monsters summoned is determined by the initial spell. The bowl is usable once per adventure. The bowl is usable only by wizards and bards.

Ioun Stone (Pale Green Ellipsold)

This ioun stone absorbs spells o up to 4th level directed at the user. After absorbing 10 spell levels, it burns up, forever useless. It cannot be recharged. The spell levels cannot be used by the owner of the stone. Further, it only absorbs spells directed at the owner specifically; it does not absorb area of effect spells if the owner happens to be in the area of effect.

Wizard Scroll

This scroll contains the spells armor, Acid armor, monster summoning I and Black tentacles. They are written at the 11th level

Wooden Club +2
Short Sword +1

A week later gifts arrive for the members

Hk-58 – “Rakentaa”
This golden +1 heavy steel shield is impossibly light and handy despite its size. It has no armor check penalty or arcane spell failure chance, and it allows the wielder to use feather fall on himself once per day. A creature wearing celestial armor while wielding a celestial shield may command the armor to provide overland flight rather than fly once per day and can cast Daylight 3 times per day.

Michaela – “Fury”
This ancient greatsword +1 was once owned by the Frost Giant King Jarl. For many years he used it as an off-hand weapon. When wielded by a skilled warrior it grants one additional attack at -5 at the end of each round.

Vethihenich – “Jade Statuette of Zuur”
This beautifully intricate jade dragon statuette is small enough to fit into the palm of your hand. When held all spells with the an acid descriptor are cast at 1 level higher and the holder gains 5 acid resistance. If the holder has acid resistance from another means their resistance is doubled instead.

Zimb – “Silver Star of Midnight”
This silver starburst amulet acts as a holy symbol to Mystra. When worn openly by a Mystrian wizard it confers a +2 Int bonus (Diplomacy) and ability to memorize 3 additional spell levels per day. Due to it’s direct tie to Mystra it confers a +10 reaction bonus to Mystrians and a -10 reaction bonus to Sharites.

Khad – “Illmater’s Obal”
These tattered hand wraps were recovered from Gradus the Sufferer after his sacrificial death during the Time of Troubles. In the hands of an Illmaterite they can remove the suffering of others but at a price. As a touch attack, damage to a willing target can be transferred to the wearer. The wearer can never transfer more damage then his current HP-1.

LC4-HUD4-114-3

After our encounter with Madam Coth’s Seer we dealt with the delusional squires and headed onward to meet her tom undo her grim prophecy. She tells us that she has created an object gate for us to get to Arborea to find Sune. As we all grasp the handle we open our eyes to see the familiar land of Arborea but the beautiful sight was immediately fractured by the gang of Daemons before us brandishing weapons of evil. They immediately warned that we were trifling with matter beyond us and to return through the portal from whence we came. We, of course, obliged them with our own blades starting a hellish battle in the lands of Arborea. As the battle began we noticed a thick fog behind the demons from which sprung a group of Sladds and other Daemon warriors. The fight is brutal and we are injured but as the final Sladd fell we emerged victorious with no deaths on our side.

With the Problem at hand dealt with we hurry to the city of Sune. We quickly enter after the guard tells us to drink some potions as to not offend the fair maiden. Mok leading our way begins to tell Sune of our strife in a plea for help. As gods don’t normally interfere with matters of the mortal realm she only agreed to our request under a few conditions, first of all, is we must donate our most prized possessions, and second, we must make large donations during the spring festival coming up. After we all agree and give up our items she stands up and we are back in Raven’s Bluff. She tells us not to interfere in the coming event and asks were we might find Gelatia. We direct her towards the house of desire and upon our arrival, Sune finds a greensteel dagger on the door as a challenge to Sune. She walks in angrier than ever to find Gelatia. They begin fighting immediately growing to colossal sizes. The battle was of epic proportions leveling what must have been 8 city blocks but luckily few were nearby after the fight started. The battle was fierce as they traded blows until Gelatia put a slash on Sune’s face with the Greensteel dagger sending her into a rage causing her to Cut off Gelatia’s arm sending her fleeing.Sune than leaves as her work was done and she needed for her wounds to heal. Later that same day we find a box at Midnight Keep addressed to us with our donated items returned to us with strong enchantments placed on them. To all to our dismay, Dolly did not survive the enchantment and was lost… The enchantment allows our items to survive any action that would cause their destruction. She tells us in a message that enough had been lost that day so it was only right to return these possessions.

Everyone gained 1 Chiv Point Besides Morrin and Omega who gained a negative Chiv Point
Our Group Gained disfavor of House Skyhawk

LC4-HUD4-114-2

Players Present: Omegasun, Clearice, Mok, Morrin, Xavier
Ran by Andy
Submitted By Clearice
As we headed towards the Chief Prelates office Mok decided that we must come to a decision regarding the Menagerie’s stance on the coming vote. After much debate a vote was called and the group sadly voted in favor of the devil’s acclimation to the city. This debate was finished outside of the Prelates office as im sure he could hear our voices he called for us to enter. Seeing this man of the city in such a grim demeanor was unsettling at best. He wore a grim visage as he spoke telling us that he believes Gelatia is manipulating the people of Raven’s Bluff and that he wishes us to find out if the vote is being swayed through such misdeeds. Of course we accepted but to the prelates dismay we refused to help persuade these people away from the vote they would be casting for evil.

We begin our misson by finding Lord by the name of Dandelion who we find at his residence. We ask him what he feels about the vote to which he tells us he is abstaining as Dame Irwina Ausentell had been captured and Gelatia had promised to help get her back if he supported her. Finding himself in this bind he cannot bring himself to vote for Gelatia but does not want to vote against as that would directly guarantee the death of Irwina . Mok sees this as a moot point and tries to convince him to vote for someone as it is his Lordly Duty as we take our leave to the next individual.

Next on our list is Lord Hildegrim who after arriving at his residence quickly tells us he voting for Gelatia and leaves before we can say a word flanked by 2 devils clad in battle gear. After being led outside we decided to head towards the Mages guild to find Lady Chiara who we discover has been cursed by an artifact of Gelatia and is in trance-like state. Morrin breaks the curse using his favor from Selune. We than are told By the Lady that she had switched followings away from Gelataia and that orb was punishment and says she will do everything in her power to deny Gelatia power.

As our Grim day drags on we find Argent Raphiel Outside of the Devillars Estate. We ask him of his satnding and he of course replies that he is for Gelatia as Serphane has promised to restore his family wealth and thus their power back to them if she has his vote. We travel on to collect Mok and Xavier from the Tavern they decided to stay at during these proceedings as they refused to be a part of our quest and left me to accompany the two Pro-Gelatia members in their business. After a short Argument the party re-votes, and thank the gods we did, as now our party is campaigning against Gelatia. We hurry off praying there is still time to convince the officials against Gelatia.

After our reawakening in the light of good we rush to find Lady Cathone who tells us she is voting for Gelatia to get back at her Ex who dumped her. She says he is voting against her and this is her way to get back at him. We of course convince her not to and offer a Compromise of dating our very own Lord Omegasun to which she agrees as this would be a perfect stab back at her ex.

We than rush towards the estate of Lord Stephton Skyhawk who we find heading off construction at his estate. He says he is voting for Gelatia as he feels it will lead him to finding out what happened to his sister and thus restore his family’s name as she had disappeared during the war. This brought dishonor as she had been the commander of the Knights of the Griffon, but to his hate and disgust we knew that she had indeed turned to evil and thus earned that dishonor. We told him this tragic story and this made him bitter as he cursed the Menagerie for ever bringing such bad news.

As the Day winds down we find ourselves looking for Lord Silverfox who is busy at work in his office. We are told to Wait and wait we do. As he finally approaches to speak to us some young ladies run up asking for Morrin to help as some squires had began gearing up to take down Gelatia. We of course rush of to stop them as this would throw a wrench into our plans to stop her and would get them killed. As we arrive Mok gives the Squires a speech about how wrong they are to which they reply you aren’t even a knight. Morrin Than steps forward and tells them to stop what they were doing and that as a knight he will deal with Gelatia himself but in his own way. This calms them down as we are approached by a follower of Madam Coth. She tells us she has seen a vision of a great knot that is this situation than only a divine hand can truly unravel. She tells us that if we would like to undo this knot we must meet her at madam Coths as soon as possible. We agree and head there with the Oracle.

The dark days are upon us once again. Today they come in a story of strife, manipulation, and deception taking hold of our fair city once again.
It began after our grim voyage from Raven’s deep back up to the surface with relics and prisoners in tow. These prisoners had worked to earn their freedom from their past wrongdoings and were coming to the city to become free men once again. Sadly the fates had other plans for them as we were ambushed by a raiding party of fire giants when setting up camp for the day. We tried to beat them back but not before they captured some of the prisoners and fleeing into a nearby cave system. We tried to pursue them but were met with a blocked off tunnel that of which we could not get around. After searching for a way into the mountain we found a nearby tunnel but it was too late as we only found half eaten remains of the prisoners 1 hour into the tunnel. We brought back the man’s remains so that he may be properly buried once we made it back to the city. We then carried forth to our 1st destination, Fort Brightsword. Upon our arrival, we meet with Commander Pugg who takes the artifacts into his care and sends us towards Raven’s Bluff with armed guards.
As we arrive at the gates and are let through there is a loud crash as a tattooed woman flies through the second story window of a nearby inn. I rush forward to see her almost frozen in time with a distorted look of anguish on her face. I then rush inside to see the strangest sight I had seen in quite some time. There standing in an Inn full of Tenari is the Daughter of Asmodeus herself Galatia Healing citizens of Raven’s Bluff. She see’s us and asks if we are here to help as she is having trouble healing the citizens and fighting the tenari at the same time. We agree to help as our clash with the forces of evil begin. The fight drags out nearly getting us killed but to our luck, we pulled through with the help of a small Coatal that had been residing inside of Mok’s Crystal Figurine. After the fighting was done we found out why the princess of hell was here and to our surprise she tells she is here trying to gain a shrine in our fair city. She, of course, tries to sell it to us that she is doing it by Law but we quickly find out she is being deceitful and blackmailing us and anyone else unfortunate enough to have bought from Seraphane’s house of desires. We do help guide her representative to the cleric’s circle after we brought our prisoners to where they needed to go. As we arrive we find out a meeting is going on tonight about if the Clerics circle will allow a shrine of Gelatia to be erected in the city. Me and Morrin are invited to sit in but we are not allowed to speak on the subject at hand.

The meeting goes as my quickly jotted down notes follow:
-the meeting start we cant talk lots of clergy here even of unrepred oneds the meeting starts they ask for the shrine construction and to follow the laws of tere and helm and the other laws
-none of them have supposedly broken the law and she says she will take the blame and they have already helped the city with the house of desires and they would help more and even answer the call as other cleric entities
-chief prelit says a summary of temples opinion he says they will say nay
-Chauntea guy says they are for it
-Odis greggor of gond says they are for it
-Dearl iron hand of helm says he is a no cause he thinks it will be worse
-Chester of Mystra says nope
-Selune guy says nope cause it invites the bloodwar
-Tempus war master bloodstrike says supports the shrine
-Tymora guy says freedom of choice
-tyr says they should be allowed due to them bringing more attention to the followers
-Lady devillars stands and says that waukeen is for it
-Procampur embassador says that they have been in procampur for a long time and it has worked
-high priestess of sune steps forward and says its a bad idea
-Blood strike smashes a table and says stop with the chitchat and the vote gets pushed off

I could not write any more details of how the meeting went as it was very shocking to hear what some of these leaders of our fair circle were saying but this is a chronicle of what transpired there. After the meeting was through I was given a scroll sent by the Chief Prelit that requested us to meet him in his office. As we approached his office i couldn’t help but feel unease wash over me that this was just the beginning of the a long and treacherous day.

LC4-113-5

As the ring walker of my traveling group tried to pry the mighty Primus from his throne I swung a mighty blow at them just as we were transported to the Astral Plane. As we gain our bearings and figure out how to move a great astral storm strike my party members causing them to experience even more strange emotions. This storm had no effect on the perfection of primus as I lead forward towards the dimensional anchor we sought. We arrived at the Anchor to find some foul creatures feasting on the fallen githmeatbags. Some of my watersack underlings questioned my perfect power but were shown its awesome might as I killed one of the beasts in one strike while they all handled the other. We were then met with the challenge of assembling the anchor’s pieces that seemed to have been broken recently. After much time and deliberation, we succeeded in the repair. As the tower appeared nearby now in its rightful home. we were teleported back to the Raven’s Bluff were we were greeted as subjects of Primus and myself should. The meatbags celebrated our conquest but my watersack underlings told me they had to show me something so I left my other meatbag subjects and followed them. They led me into a room with a robed man who touched my head and brought me back to my senses. I now understood that it was an insanity of the throne that made me believe that I was the almighty primus but alas was not to be. We returned back to the keep of midnight retiring for the evening as I resumed trying to reorganize the library in secret.

LC4-113-4

Our day started early again after our trip into the tower. The city gazers were still gathered around the tower when we arrived. They told us we would be going back inside though this time we must locate the throne room and investigate it. We are sent in with another group of meatbags who at the first sight of the githmeatbags ran off to fight. We steadied our course towards our objective but ended up in a hallway that closed behind us. A female meatbag steps through the door at the far side and locks only to turn around and damage our audio receptors with her shrill voice. She seems to be unconscious upon our inspection. When we attempted to open the door it spat out a foul green gas crippling my companions. there seemed no end to the gas or a way through the door till one of my watersack semi-intelligent companions summoned a mighty contraption known as a spell engine. This did well to clear the gas from the room and allowed us to break down the door with ease. Upon reaching the other side of the door we see the broken bodies of the damned and beaten strewn across the ground groaning in pain. they had all been battling and dying against one another. The survivors however where some hair covered meatbags who looked at us as their next meal.

The battle for survival commences as we beat back the meatbags. They begin to fall only for a moment before a bright light blinds me and my watersack companions. Though we lost the ability to see me and my companions managed to finish off the rest of the Meatbags. Finally, in a moment of calm, we are able to reawaken the female meatbag. She began screaming again of course but was quickly put at ease by the female addelcove of my group. She tells us she is known as Helena and that everything is going horribly wrong after this raid on the tower by the githmeatbags. We press onward finding the ballroom and the now dead master of the tower who seems to be some form of feline meatbag with backward hands. On his mangled body, we find journal telling of how to gain control of the tower. You must sit on the throne we were searching for and say a code word and thus the tower would judge if you were worthy. We then, through a stroke of luck, find the throne room nearby and proceed inside. The small meatbag Veth is the first to try and control the tower. It tells him that he is not worthy and ends up being in a very self-destructive mood. After another party member tries to commune with the throne they to fail and are thrown into a mania. as I try to remove them I end up upon the throne asking the throne if it would like our help to send it back home I realize who I have been all along. I am the supreme being primus perfect in all ways. Of course, the throne obeys Primuses Request as it prepares us for our journey to the Astral Plane.
Exp:1250

LC4-113-3

Player’s Present: HK-58, Atamar, Zimb, Veth, Frek, Michaela
NPC’s: Tayron and his band of ringwalkers, Ingo, Ango, and another meatbag
Ran by Andy
Submitted by HK-58

The City Gazer sent us in the direction of the tower to aid in the assault. As we approached the cordon of the raven’s bluff that the tower had appeared in we observed its immense size and strange design. It was located on a massive chunk of land floating 50 ft into the air. The tower itself was made of a solid black marble with veins of silver and gold flecked across its surface. Below the mass of land, we found more city gazers and semi-intelligent meatbags. They told us that we would be flying up to investigate the tower and find out what it is doing here. They gave my inept companions sorcery of flight so that they could join me in the skies as we ascended towards the tower. As we landed and approached the doors we were met by a group of ringwalkers lead my the daftest of them all Tayron. He claimed to be here for the treasures that may lie within the tower. He, of course, offers to help us with the door but it opened with a simple phrase of open and the ringwalkers dashed inside like a pack of roosters after a unicorn.We enter after them only to find an angry Hyrda and the tail end of those scoundrels rushing through a nearby door. We did battle with the Hydra meatbag dispatching it quickly taking some damage in the process. After the meatbag falls lifeless we find that the ringwalkers path is barred from us and thus we choose the path to the north that leads into a hall where a great battle must have taken place as the room is torn to shreds. Bodies litter the floor but we still hear the telling sounds of life emanating from a nearby torn banner. Moving the banner uncovers a tiny female meatbag who immediately recoils in fear from me as if I was a monster. I leave my companions to deal with the tiny meatbag and begin inspecting the bodies around us. After some conversation with the tiny meatbag, she then begins to call me a trashcan, the same way as that Addle-Cove empty brain brute. My companions then find another meatbag named Ongo who tells us that this tower comes from the astral plane and is being seiged by githyanki and githzerai after they found of this towers now deceased masters love of experimenting on them. After this enlightenment and learning of the dangers of the tower, we take the survivors and some of Ongo’s kin back with us finding the ringwalkers sadly alive and breathing as well.
We are then tasked with going and getting rest by the city gazers as we have a mission to take out the summoning defense system of the tower to stop the tide of evil meatbags into the raven’s bluff. Before we leave the meatbag Ongo and his brethren offer to sell us some magical items one of which I received being a magnificent ring of truth. The other meatbag Atamar managed to get some strange ugly hunk of metal that he wouldn’t take off. The small meatbag veth received a rod and broke out into horrid song in excitement he wouldn’t stop till we took him to see a divine meatbag at which point he relinquished the rod quickly wrapping it in a cloth and placing it in his bag.

Exp: 1250
Loot:Jim got a braclet of facination i got a ring delussion(truth) Veth got a rod of singing

LC4-113-2

HK-58 Data Log 00000002
After staying a night in the fortress of the Menagerie of Midnight I learned 2 things of their world. These strange meatbags leave themselves defenseless and fall unconscious at nighttime and their physical memory bank is completely disorganized. I don’t understand how they find the logs they need and their Log keeper meatbag became very infuriated when I tried to correct the disorder. Even with my logical explanation of the disorder and my plan to fix it they would not allow it. One day I will get the Menagerie of MIdnight in order and perfection but it will be a long and arduous battle.

Our next mission began the same as the last just before the star rose into the sky. We were tasked with clearing out some savage meatbags from a building of respite known as the Apple of a Faerie Dragon’s Eye. As we arrived at the location we could only hear screams and the noises of what seemed like 100 small meatbags shuffling about filling the building and the sounds of combat from the second floor. As we approached the door a short hairy-footed meatbag fell from the window above us. He exclaimed that he must keep fighting the small meatbags that he called Kobolds. They seemed similar to our own tiny meatbag but less intelligent than him. THe hairy-footed meatbag mentioned there were meatbags in danger so I kicked in the door to begin the killing of these small evil meatbags only to realize that there was no one to rescue down here. I decided to fly up to the window where the hairy-footed meatbag fell from to find the small evil meatbags trying to drag a female meatbag away. This must have been one of the meatbags in danger so I sprung into action. It was a hard battle to get into the window as the small meatbags seemed to have no end in numbers but I fought my way in and seeing my full might they began to retreat out of the doorway. The building, seeming to be clear of small meatbags, was ours now and we searched around to find one who claimed to be the relative of the hairy-footed meatbag. After explaining how he became trapped here by the small meatbags he set a strange stone spinning around my being. As we left the house of respite it seemed that one of my meatbag companions had become infatuated with one of the small meatbags. They had been enemies before but this one now seemed docile and harmless so there was no need to send it to reincarnation with its brethren. The female meatbag who was captured by the small meatbags seemed to have disappeared when they fled but I can only assume she managed to get away as the small meatbags entered very small holes as they fled that she could not have fit through.

The regal meatbag we had met before arrived as we were leaving and told us our skills were needed to clear a blockage in the underground. We find the beginning of the path he gave us and descend into the chaotic labyrinth of the bowels of the Raven’s Bluff. On our way down me and one of the meatbags fell into the muck and she seemed to be afflicted with some bodily ailment. We followed the path the regal meatbag gave us and find the blockage we must clear. As we approached the blockage some large waste abomination seeped out of the blockage and approached waving it’s two large tentacles threateningly. It charged forward at us grabbing our female meatbag who had become sick earlier and nearly killing them. Seeing our meatbag was in danger I stepped forward and felled the filthy abomination in one blow cleaving its soul in 2 so that it may not even be reincarnated. As I cleaned the abominations blood from my blade the other meatbags found a pair of gauntlets inside of the blockage. Me and the female meatbag than removing the blockage flooding the corridor with the blood of the raven’s bluff. This sickens even more of my meatbag compatriots as we journey out of the bowels of the Raven’s Bluff to the surface. We are then greeted once more by a city gazer who tells us of a mission to attack a strange tower outside of the city to which we all agree to partake in. Before we head towards the tower one of the meatbags from yesterday approaches us and tells us our doomclocks mine being something about acidic compounds not working as well against me if this tower attack goes in our favor.

Loot: Cerulean Blue Rhomboid that gives freedom of movement(Atamar)
Bracers of Quickened strike- To a warrior gives improved initiative to anyone else they are bracers of armor 5(Vethihenic)
Mallet of Luck2 deals 4d4 points of damage and if you keep the damage you get a plus 2 against attack rolls and saving throws(Michaela)
Exp: 1250

LC4-113-1

HK-58 Data Log 00000001
My time in this realm has been short and chaotic. It doesn’t seem as if there is an order to what goes on around me here or an order to what these meat bags do with their every move. After our long day today, my first-day of aiding this Menagerie of Midnight, they mentioned collecting data of the day so that it may be reviewed later in something called a journal. I had not heard of such a thing outside of a data log, thus I corrected their error and told them that I can make a data log as an example for them. Their data logs are very unorganized and out of order. They right them starting at one end and going to the other leaving a complete unbalance in the log even upon completion. After review of the Log, they gave me as an example I showed them the proper way to make a data log. You start at the very center of the Logbook and right outward keeping the log in perfect balance at all times. They had looks of awe and wonderment at what I had shown them my perfectly balanced form must have left those silly meatbags dumbstruck and unable to speak as they read it. Even that semi-intelligent meatbag had no words for my impeccable form. But of course, i must start on the other events of this day of battle and chaos.

Our day had begun before the great star had risen in the sky. The meatbags seemed to not enjoy being there though I cannot see why. The only one who seemed to be engrossed in delight was the semi-intelligent one. He asked us all to introduce ourselves but did so in an unorderly fashion that puzzled me. Even worse we were interrupted by explosions coming from nearby to which we approached the origin of rapidly. The scene was one of pure unorderly chaos. There were around 30 meatbags big and small all engaging in combat. Some seemed to be protecting a nearby sanctum for the semi-intelligent ones of the Raven’s Bluff and thus must have been allies of some sort. I rushed in, to aid them, slaying 4 large meatbags single-handedly and bringing the battle to a fast close. A regal meatbag who I had seen in the combat greeted us and told us of the situation he seemed to be a meatbag of order which impressed me greatly after dealing with the chaos of these lesser meatbags. He told us that there was some form of attack on the Raven’s Bluff and that we must aid in its defense. As he rushed away to his other business we heard noises coming from the semi-intelligent ones haunt. We entered promptly to find 2 meatbags being assaulted by a gaggle of small meatbags. We rushed forward in their defense but as the final small meatbag fell it was too late there life water had drained and they were likely being reborn as the lesser beings of this world as we speak. We, of course, had no time to fret over the loss of these meatbags and continued on following the sounds of combat.

We heard screams coming from a nearby building and a small meatbag told us of his elder meatbag being in trouble in the building that screams and combat emanated from. We entered it through a window to find an elder meatbag being attacked by small green meatbags. Yet again the chaos of combat opened up again to me as I fought my way through to the elder meatbag who the small one said needed rescuing. The other meatbags and I dispatched the small green meatbags and saved the elder meatbag from reincarnation. The small meatbag approached the meatbag of balance who seemed to be the only one of these meatbags who had any semblance of true order in this chaotic world and gave him a fur covered token in the shape of what the meatbags call a bear. As we left the elder and small meatbag one the city gazers approached us and told us we must head to the monastery district of the Raven’s Bluff. Upon our arrival there we met a few strange meatbags who seemed to be selling their arts though one of them seemed to be a complete addle-cove who had absolutely no order it was almost disgusting to see. After a time passed in this area, a city gazer approached us and told us what we must do the next day and directing us to take our repose till the time came for our mission.

1250xp
Loot: Huggable bear-his huggable, lovable stuffed magical bear is made of white ermine. It sports an onyx nose, sapphire eyes, and is stuffed with owlbear down.During the slumber hours, this small bear radiates a sphere of protection in a radius of 3 yards. The sphere keeps invading forces from entering the mind of any sleeping person. ESP and mind Arcane Formula for a Dracolich affecting spells, including psionics, do not work on any subjects sleeping within the bear’s domain. The stuffed animal also prevents those in its area of effect from suffering bad dreams. Because of the restful nature of sleep while slumbering near the bear, hit points are restored at twice the normal rate. (Khad)
Long Sword Nine lives Stealer +2 (HK-58)
Rabbits foot (Zimb)

After we found the grave of the Dwarven King and founder of the Brightswords we set our sights on the final tunnel. After walking down the tunnel a little ways we found an alcove full of supplies that we decided to stop and investigate. I decided magical assistance may help and thusly I used my sacred oils to obtain true sight. What I didn’t expect to find was Drow hanging from the ceiling and gathering outside of the tunnel. I yelled an alert to everyone just as they began descending from the ceiling and shooting there poisoned crossbows at us. They had the element of surprise and they used it well injuring us severely though we made a valiant fight to survive. They afflicted me with a powerful confusion causing me to be useless for the battle and nearly getting the rest of my friends killed. Morrin managed to stop the Drow casters onslaught with a stinking cloud but the damage had been done even as warriors fell. We fought off them off but nearly died in the process. After healing as much as possible Mok decided to blow the tunnel further down and we returned to Raven’s Deep to make our final report bringing the drow corpses with us.
.
After making our report Lord Blacktree tasks us with investigating the Dragon pool that we had visited twice before. A whole group had disappeared from there and a prisoner escape was suspected. We accepted and headed towards the Cave. Upon our arrival, all seemed normal for only a moment before all hell broke loose. There were goblins and Orks as well as slimes and a priest of Jublex duking it out above and below us. It was a Chaos on the scale of 5 armies battling in a confined space. Me and Mok focused on the Priest and his slimes while Omega rallied the Orks to kill the other armies. After summoning a few elementals me and Mok were victorious over the Jublex Priest. Omega and his hoard destroyed the Other armies leaving us to report to Lord Blacktree what had happened at the battle of the 5 Armies. He was very impressed with our performance even offering for us to work in the under dark for the next 6 months which we all accepted. I hope that Mok had a plan for our absence though. He mentioned he had it covered but the city won’t defend itself…

EXP:13150
Loot:Loot:a drowen cloak of elvenkind x8, drowen boots of elvenkind x8 (4 taken by party)
Drowen Buckler 2 x8, Drowen Chain +1 x8 Drowen Short swords +2 x8 Hand crosbow x8(5 taken by the party)
Exilir of Anti magic value 5000 (Mok)
philtir of water elemental form (Xavier)
for ten minutes the imbiber is able to turn into a 12-HD water elemental. It takes one minute to change from one form to another. No immunities are given, but the special attacks are granted. The hit points and armor class of the imbiber do not change. Value 3,000 gp
Figurine of Acid Resistance – 100. Activate this figurine, and it prevents acid 100 for 1d6 rounds (Omega)
2 potions of Cure Critical 1x Mok 1x Dalarn
Bladeback Mace +1 This mace has a blade coming out of it along one side (Treasury)
it can be blunt or slashing damage
it requires its own profieciency
it does 1d82 (+1 for being magical)
and it was forged in the abyss
so in the astral it is +2
in the outer planes it is +3
that means +1 more for being magical

LC4-HUD3-112 Part 2

I don’t know what happened after the whispers from that awful creature took control I just remember reading to kill Mok and then it was Mok, Morrin, and Dalarn who were trying to kill the rest of us. It was so awful having to see such violence from family with the intent to kill you. I tried my best to keep everyone from dying but they wouldn’t stop fighting so I took it upon myself to put a stop to Mok since he was the biggest threat. After he and Morrin were knocked out they seemed to have been restored to normal not before Shadow nearly killed Mok though if I hadn’t been there he surely would have died… As we gained our bearings and recovered from that horrid experience I examined one of the sverfneblin we managed to capture and found that he was barely alive and had no semblance consciousness in his being. I called upon my healing abilities and managed to bring that spark back to him but his body and mind will most certainly have to recover before he will awake. As this occurred Dusk seemed to have found a shining jewel in the skulls of the drow who had the brain bugs inside of them. We collected them wondering if they had some form of control magic infused into them. After much debate, we decide to take our prisoner back to Raven’s Deep and rest there for the night.

In the morning we continued our mission and headed back to the tunnels this time choosing the other far tunnel that emanated a strong magic aura. As we entered this tunnel we ran into a multitude of traps even one that seemed to illuminate our magic items. At the end of the tunnel past the traps, we finally arrived at misty portal which much to my dismay we had to step through to find out what lied beyond.Inside it seemed almost like someones home and were even greeted by frightened shrieks from some gnomes hiding in the room saying they must tell their master of the visitors. As they try to run off a female Drow elf steps through the door bearing the emblems of Lloth. She greets us turning the gnomes to blue liquid telling us they were simulacrum that went awry. She informed us of her hate for her own kind and that she would be interested in trading with us for her wares she produces. We decline as we don’t have much to trade so we decide to trade information instead. We tell her that we are exploring the area and intern she tells us of the tunnels nearby identifying the one with those great friends horrible creatures as a food cave. She didn’t have much else in the way of information on these caves but told us that a few drow cities do exist somewhat close by. We then decide to bid her farewell promising to keep her location a secret as to not cause conflict with her. after the trek back through the traps we make it to the right arm tunnel which is quiet but holds a great treasure. In this tunnel lies the resting place of house Gemsplitter, The family who first founded clan Brghtsword long ago. we decided it would be best to leave it untouched and allow clan Brightsword to investigate it.

There I stood terrified of my friend’s betrayal as they came back into the cavern throwing fireballs around. I realized then what those creatures where as a sermon by one of my professors from college came back on the Underdark and its Denizens that these must be intellect devourers. These creatures can take over someone’s body and compel others to do their bidding.

Finally feeling a need to use a powerful artifact of a Unicorn that we liberated from a Deep Dragon Lair the first time we came down I attempted to summon its power and got nowhere. It seems it will only work on the surface or in a massive cavern. Giving up on that I followed Dalarn who came charging through the tunnel I was hiding in as he searched for the intellect devourers responsible for Mok’s turning against us. He caught up to them and I watched as his axe cleaved into their tiny brain bodies splattering them all over the cavern floor.

Heading back to see if the others are okay there was some invisible wall preventing us from reaching Mok. Riding Omega I climbed up and over the wall to help Clearice revive, the fallen only to have one of the Svirfneblin attack me. After a brief struggle, I am proud to say I subdued him as Clearice inspected and attempted to heal him only to have him slump back into unconsciousness. She assures me he will be fine now but it may take a long time for it to come back around and recover from its ordeal. Dusk notices some strange gems in the heads of the drow controlled by those creatures and we collect them all.

We decide to head back to the guard post and from there back to Raven’s Deep to deliver up the two surviving svirfneblin in the hopes they eventually can offer up some help or information. Mok wants to head down the tunnel with the magical aura and given last time his choice turned him against the party I wished to try a different tunnel. Finally giving into Tymora I tossed a coin with the condition if it lands on edge then fine will agree with Mok and sure enough Tymora stood that coin right on its edge so several hours later we found ourselves heading back and exploring the tunnel that seems to be exuding a powerful magical aura.

Turns out this tunnel is heavily trapped by a Drow Priestess who wishes to just be left alone from her own brethren and work on her magical experiments. Mok was the only one who could really speak with her at first until she cast a spell allowing her to speak common. She offers to trade with us powerful items she has made but only in exchange for large sums of gold and magical items from the surface of which we had none to freely trade at this time. With promises to keep her secret I marked on my map this tunnel is dangerous with fey magic traps but has nothing of value and should just be ignored by those in Raven’s Deep. Before we left she informs us that where we encountered those intellect devourers harvesting roots for food she has encountered and killed an Illithid down that way.

Down the right arm that moves upwards and is a bit slippery, we discovered what appeared to be the tomb of first Dwarven King to clan Brightsword. Respecting their history, we check to make sure no one has disturbed the place, note it down on the map and head on to explore the last remaining tunnel in this area.

LC4-HUD3-112

We find ourselves walking down this now familiar trail down into the Earth so deep and dark it’s almost soul devouring. We now approach the camp known as Ravens Deep the only beacon of light in this oppressive darkness. We have been summoned again to this foul land to aid in the search of that fabled sphere. We, of course, meet up with Lord Blacktree to get the specifics of our mission into the dark expanse. He tells us we are to scout out into the nearby tunnels that have been found recently known as the tunnels of man. It sounds simple enough the men who found them have heard noises from one, felt immense magic from another, one that’s quite, and finally, one that has scared off the guards who get near it giving them a sense of something bad going on down it. We were to scout these tunnels out and find what lies within, but we did not know the horrors we would find. The journey started out steady enough only going wrong when Pimfire crawled into a crevice only to come out covered in a black slime that seemed to be of acidic nature destroying some of his equipment.

We did eventually make it to the atrium leading to the dark mission before us. We chose that the furthest tunnel would be best first but it was a mistake that will haunt me and likely the others whether they care to admit it or not. This tunnel seemed normal enough opening up into a large room full of Drow, Dueregar, and Sverfneblin gathering some strange white roots from the cavern walls. Of course, they turned upon our entrance looking for a fight it would have seemed but none of had noticed the look in their eyes that seemed almost dead inside. After a large number of them had fallen to our blades the horror began. The drow who had fallen began to shudder and quake after they should have been dead moments ago. As we looked on in horror the drow’s skulls began to split and burst as an evil malefic friends being the likes of which we had never seen. It looked like a cross between a malformed brain and some creature having burst from the brain. These wonderful friends horrid creatures attacked us with some unknown ability that turned us against each other making us hurt our fiends friends as if they were our most hated enemy. Even now I fell there whispers pulling at my sanity…….

Lord Blacktree summons us once more into the Underdark, so soon after Amuka’s safe return, I worry about leaving her for the couple of weeks this journey may take but I entrust Grink and the rest of our staff with her care and safekeeping.

Upon our way, we helped some people, as is our wont to do. When we arrived at Ravens Deep, we met with Lord Blacktree where we watch a dwarf from clan Brightsword hand him a map. Upon this map, it outlines a new area of exploration called “Passages of Man”. Here the clan has found several ancient artifacts of theirs and we are to be on the lookout for any more such items for we are to deliver any we find to Clan Brightsword.

As we leave his chambers and set out from Raven’s Deep we can see more of the work that has progressed since our last visit. There is a fresh water pond they’ve built with works set to eventually fuel it via a natural waterfall rather then magical summoning. There is a mushroom/fungus farm set up to help feed the people and supplement their food supply. We are informed by one worker we pass that they’ve tried to get fish to live in the freshwater pond but no fish from the surface seems to live long in the darkness. Realizing that we might be able to help out if we were to bring back some Underdark fish I ask Omega about a fishbowl he acquired a few weeks ago but he tells me that he gave it up to the midwife of a pregnant woman the fish were intended for. I argue back that she only needed the fish not the bowl they came in and after a while, we realize some guards have come up the tunnel we are heading down.

One of the guards named Conrad informs us of Clan Brightsword finding a Rod of Might that was excavated from the Passages of Man chamber. Dalarn offers the thirst guards some water from his waterskin and waves me over with the map to see if we are on the right path. After we part ways and continue on for a bit we all notice a light shining from a 3 foot crack in the wall where a side tunnel seems to double back a ways. Being the only one who could fit I turn invisible and enter the crack to find a couple vials and a medallion laying on the ground. A moment later my vision turns dark as a dark ooze drips from the ceiling down onto me. Screaming as I can feel it burns Omega reaches in and pulls me back out. The gang proceeds to damage the ooze on me but not before another one drops on Omega as well. Finally realizing the potential for destruction it may have upon my arms and armor I use a newfound ability to give myself protection from the ooze which then slithers off me and onto Dalarn. We finally destroy the two oozes but not before it’s reduced a couple of my magical items powers and going so far as to break my headband even cracking it in two. I cautiously head back into the crack in the wall, grab the couple items and see there are gemstones embedded on the wall. We take the time to pull them out and examine them to realize while they look like Emeralds they aren’t actually emeralds. Not sure what they are we tuck them away and continue on after Mok unleashes a blast of fire to scour the area clear of any remaining ooze.

We reach the Passage of Man chamber with no more incidents and meet the guards set to hold the position. I inform them of our encounter and advise them to be wary of any more oozes in the tunnel leading back to Ravens Deep. The guards bring us up to speed on the scouting of the branches leading from the chamber. They refer to the shape of the tunnels as if they were made in the shape of a man with this very chamber being it’s head.

The right arm passage is very quiet and with no encounters after traveling 500 yards down it.

The left arm passage has a strange sound that no one is able to locate it.

The left leg has something clearly going on but they are not sure why other than a strange feeling they get when they approach it.

The right leg they can feel a strong magic coming from but never explored it.

We give them our password for when we safely return as “Fahrvergnügen” and head down to explore the left leg as Mok is concerned over the use of the terms something going on and wants to stop whatever it may be quickly. I advise him and the rest of the gang that doing so could leave our backs exposed to the Right and Left arm passages and whatever may be making the noises but to no avail.

As we head down the left leg passage we encounter an open area filled with Duergar, Svirfneblin, Orcs and Drow all of which appear to be mining the walls in some sort of stupor daze. Mok steps forth and they immediately cease their mining to focus on our presence in a clearly hostile way, yet they move sluggishly as though not aware of their own doing. Mok screams out not to kill the Svirfneblin who may not be evil but kill the rest! We engage them and try and stay true to Mok’s idea. They are easily put down and don’t appear to be of much threat to seasoned adventurer’s such as ourselves. That is when a parasite climbed out of one of the fallen Drow’s ear and attacks Mok. Each drow seemed to have one as they fell it crawled free to attack us.

These strange parasites have some sort of mind power and are able to control or influence nearby humanoids and creatures as one controls Shadow to turn upon the crowd. Dalarn falls under their power and attacks Mok, later Mok comes out of a tunnel and unleashes several fireballs upon the rest of us clearly now in their control as is Morrin who does the same. Fearing for my own safety as this fight is turning dangerous with no more parasites that I can see and only friendly faces now turned against us I turn invisible and flee to a side tunnel to regroup my thoughts.

Rewards not awarded yet just picked up so far in our journey

Elixir of Anti-Magic
Philter of Water Elemental Form
60 gems looks like emeralds worth 5d10 each
Medallion (magical unidentified)

LC4-111

Last Night Mok told us he knew how we could find the triad and for us to meet him down in the meeting hall in the morning so he could tell us what he found. I awoke and went about my usual morning routine but the library time was interceded by a book on thavian torture techniques. As I came down to see the others already in the Hall, besides Xavier of course who was shadowing me in the library again acting as if he was enthralled in a book on finances. As I came down they were answering a knock at the door revealing a dwarf with a box. He introduces himself as Dalarn Runeaxe and was sent by Mok with a message in this box. He hands it to us and the message reads as such,
Dear friends,

I’m so sorry I can’t be with you this day. I’ve sent this honorable Dwarf to aid you as I can not. Dalarn is a good man and you’ll need his help. Trust in him as you would me. Now, onto business.

I’ve learned much about the young whelps that have taunted us for so long. To my dismay, I now know the true power behind their machinations.

These mages are much more than they seem. These foolish children are the servants of the Mistress of the Night. If they are not stopped the Nightsinger will use the Great Machine to flood all of Faerûn with the Shadow Weave. I can’t even begin to imagine the catastrophe that would follow.

As for me. By now I’m in the hands of the Triad. This was unavoidable. A sacrifice had to be made and I would never have asked it of any of you. It was the only way she could find them. It was the only way she could make you a door.

Dalarn – May your forefathers guide your axes this day.
Xavier – Only threw blind courage can one truly see.
Omegasun – I normally dislike your superstitious nature but today I hope you embrace it.
Clearice – Please keep my family alive. That includes you.
Pimfire – If someone tells you not to do something it probably means you should.
Morrin – Thanks to the Goddess I was able to prepare for my inevitable capture. The contents of this box is for you. This veil contains all of my magic, my essence, perhaps my very soul. I didn’t want the Nightsinger to corrupt it so I leave it in your care. Trust in the Lady of Mysteries. You’ll know what to do and when to use it.

Well, that’s it. If we don’t meet again know that it has been my privilege to have been your brother. May the Goddess always shine on you.

Blood & Kisses,
Mok

As Morrin pulls out the vial that Mok spoke of in his message a brilliant globe of light materializes behind Dalarn. We all turn away to avoid being blinded and as the light dies out we turn to see none other than Alassra Shentrantra Silverhand, otherwise known as The Symbol. To have such a living legend standing out in front of us was quite a shock especially after learning of Mok’s dire circumstance. She does greet us though telling us she knows of us all and that she is here to aid one of Mystra’s children. She tells us we we be going to a place near the resting place of the abominable shadow weave. This means that magic, of course, will most likely not work as the shadow weave is the source of power there. She aslso tells Xavier that his companion bow would suffocate and die in such a perverted realm. She grabs Mister pointy telling us he will be the key to getting us to the realm of shadow. As she readies her spell time seems to freeze around me and Alassra approaches me asking if I am ready to take on this task for our friend and for Mystra. Of course, i could never leave an ally to die especially at the hands of those dreaded triad members. She embraces me telling me that my positive energy will still have an effect in such a realm as that of shadow. Time returns to me and Alassra begins weaving magic into a gate to the realm of shadow.

As we step through the portal we find ourselves on what seemed to be a metal hallway with only the portal behind us. We cautiously walk down the hallway to a large intersection with a tower looming straight up with thavian markings on the door. We decide to head inside which leads to another large hallway thought this on clearly leads into a lab. This lab is populated by around 10 clones of Rena of the Triad. She sees us and begins spewing out some nonsense about how inferior we are to her and that we should surrender and how great she is, but I didn’t care what she had to say and we just engaged in combat. The Rena’s begin casting magic at us but as I try to identify it I nearly puke from the perversion of magic that they dared cast. These copies then began to multiply spewing out of the vats on the giant machine. As they began to fill the room we cut them down but not fast enough. Omega fought his way up to the control panel and pulled a switch causing a copy of Mok to come out of the middle vat. This also stopped the rest of the vats but this Mok was very hostile and looking to kill us. Omega smashes most of the Vats in the next few moments but the Mok teleports away and keeps blasting us til Dalarn knocks him unconscious. we clean up the Rena’s and follow the pipes to a back room with a naked Mok and a naked Rena floating in Vats of their own. We break the vats and take Rena as a prisoner and wake up Mok who doesn’t recognize us. We decide we can’t allow this machine to keep existing so we destroy it not before I take notes on its function though.

We return to the intersection outside and are approached by a little robot nome named MEED. As he calls us trash multiple times we get out of him that he is a repairman for this realm and that we find the rest of the triad in a light place in the ceiling and in a room down to the right that looks like a giant machine. We decide on the room to the right as we can not rightly figure out how to get up to the light in the ceiling. as we head there we drop off Rena and try to drop off Mok through our entrance portal but Alassra sends Mok back through. So we shrug and trudge on to the door.

We enter through the Machine door and find we are now standing on a large watch face surrounded by ethereal looking viewers as if in a colosseum. Suddenly Quinto of the Triad, The bastard who poisoned me, appears larger than life(translucent as the rest as well) challenging us to defeat his champions The Brother’s Grim. He offers that if we beat them then he will give himself up to us. As he finishes his proposal not giving us much choice to large men with tower shields begin turning solid before us. They move in near perfect synchronization blocking our attacks with each other’s shields made of adamantine. Pim gave us the right idea by suggesting breaking the floor to kill them being it was glass after all. I called forth the raw inert magic inside of myself to cast shatter upon the glass causing them to fall into the cogs of the watch mechanism halting it from moving. I have my doubt that those two were even human as their movements were unreal in terms of precision and they were riveted into their armor as well. After they were defeated Quinto approached being led by translucent guards and for whatever reason expected to be treated nicely with handcuffs and a hug but I instead beat him into unconsciousness and tied him up like a hog finding 3 potions on him as well.

We entered once again out into the intersection but this time we saw the peculiar sight of mechanical dog creatures running erratically past us. They must have been the collector dogs MEED had mentioned earlier. We dropped off the bloodied and beaten Quinto through the portal and headed towards the light in the sky. As we approach the area beneath it we find a control panel set atop a strange brass cog. we stand atop the cog and flip a switch. As Steam spews out below us the cog rises towards the light. We enter the light to find we are no longer in the realm of shadows as before but in a frozen wasteland with the 3rd triad member standing on a platform in the distance surrounded by a lake of ice. Upon seeing such a wretched being who was the final of the foul members of the triad the raw magic potential boils up inside of me as my hand raises calling forth a pillar of divine fury on the platform engulfing the dragon worshiper. To my dismay, she was not the only occupant of the platform. Appearing behind the triad member was a large white dragon and inside of its hulking and very much undead rib cage was Amuka. A pit of dread built up in my stomach as I realized what I had done to poor Amuka. She was burned but clinging to life inside of the beast as it flew down to attack us. Omegasun and the others made short work of the dragon but as it fell we hear a booming voice scolding us for what we had done and telling us we knew nothing of what we just did. Flying down out of the sky is a colossal skeletal dragon who the menagerie had actually done battle with once before. It tells us we just killed its son and proceeds to breathe out a blizzard onto the ice lake we stood upon. The blizzard is harsh and blinding as we try to gain our bearings and escape the sky terror before us. As hope is fleeting the roar of the blizzard is drowned out by the sound of breaking glass. The Blizzard clears immediately as coils of raw magical power as brilliant as the stained glass in my now ruined home church begin streaming into us and our magical items. As we feel the magic recharging us we turn to see Mok, now as his usual self, eyes burning with silver fire raise his arms to the terror above us and blast the raw silver fire of Mystra into the fiendish dragon shattering its skeletal wings. As he recoils from the raw magic channeled through him Mok collapses and doesnt appear to even be breathing. The dragon now enraged after being grounded has not time to react as Morrin pulls out a peculiar pyramid pulsating with forgotten power. In that moment i had blinked only for a second but when my eyes opened again Omegasun, Dalarn and Morrin were surrounding the dragon Morrin assuming his familiar gargoyle form and the dragon sparkling faintly. I also feel as if I am moving much faster than before as they begin wailing on the grounded dragon. As they fight on Pimfire disappears after grabbing amuka from the first undead dragon. Seeing that Mok had stopped breathing I couldn’t allow a friend of mine to die if I could do something to stop it. I channeled my divine powers of healing and in a flash brought Mok back from the brink of the abyss. Mok springs up and helps us in our battle. We all fought valiantly against the dragon scourge its mighty bite nearly killed Morrin and Pimfire with impunity. I cast a mighty Blade Barrier trapping the beast between my allies. As the dragon panicked it tried to teleport out of the blade barrier and only ended up in the perfect place for my Divine Fury to snap its spine and drive it into the ground. As the dragon crumpled it let out a choked few words," This isnt the end…". As we gained our bearings after the hard won battle we collected our trophies from the beast. We then gather up for my healing ability and we head out and back to the portal. As we walk through we are greeted by the Symbol once more who hands Pim a box and tells him to throw it through the portal. He does so and she closes the portal behind us. She then asks us what we plan to do with these prisoners as Mystra would love to pass judgment on them for what they have done. We give them to Mystra and Alassra proceeds to kill the destroy their bodies and their souls thanking us for the help in the matter of bringing them to justice. She then gives me the poison to cure my curse with and heals our allies of their feeble mind and providing us a blessing from Mystra for our service. She then bids us farewell as she has other matters to attend to in her land.

Amuka is safe and it is all thanks to Mok and the help of the rest of the Midnight Menagerie. Her safe return home began with a letter from Mok asking us all to be ready to leave in a moments notice early one morning. I was pacing the floor when a knock at our keep door brought to our attention a dwarf by the name of Dalarn. He carried a box for us from Mok, inside was a letter and a strange vial. Upon reading the letter to the rest of the group, it seemed Mok had made a sacrifice for information as to the whereabouts of the Triad. His note went on to instruct each of with a special piece of advice and the vial was to be entrusted to Morrin for use at a later time. The same letter also encouraged us to accept Dalarn on our journey.

Suddenly a flash spins us around and standing in our main hall is a striking woman by the name of Alassra Shentrantra Silverhand. Immediately Omega tries to put the moves on her but showing off Dolly, which she says she is very much aware of. While she informs us why she is here everything goes quiet and still. She speaks to me only it seems and draws out a promise to save the Child of Mystra, Destroy a machine which is capable of spreading the Shadowweave throughout our realm and punish those who would attempt such an act. With my assurances that I will do all in my power she kiss me a single kiss on the cheek and tells me that where I am going my bardic powers will function for the next 24 hours. Suddenly time speeds up again and everyone is moving as normal. I am left wondering if it was all my imagination or real but the warmth of her lips on my cheek tell me I did not dream that moment. We are informed that magic does not work where we are going at least not easily or properly. With that a gateway appears.

As we rush through the gate we are transported to a realm I have never seen the like of, and I’ve been to the Abyss and Celestial realms. Looking upwards about 200ft. is a metal roof of some type but off in the distance is a roadway as far as we can see. In front of us is a tower with the Symbol of Thay on the single door in it. Alassra was right about our magic as we feel our magically enchanted gear suddenly get heavier and lose their abilities.
We approach and enter the tower in front of us and down a corridor we come to a room brightly lit with strange vats and tubes all over. There appears to be a dozen Reena’s throughout the room and they notice us as we approach. She starts babbling but in my rage I ignore her and immediately open fire. As we defeat a several more Reena’s step out of the Vats, I scream to destroy those vats, while Omega focuses on some levers. After awhile of fiddling with the levers instead of multiple Reena’s a single Mok steps forth from a vat. Meanwhile with dark energies flying around the room the rest of the gang focuses on destroying Reena’s. Omega tries to reason with Mok at first but it becomes obvious with several Fireballs that isn’t really Mok and with a concentrated effort we take him down. Omega meanwhile starts smashing vats until eventually it stops working. He then finishes smashing the rest of the vats and levers and in a chamber behind it all we find the real Mok and Reena inside vats. We free them and tie up Reena, Mok is brought back to awareness or some sort of amnesia state. We shove Reena through the portal upon leaving the tower and try and return Mok but he gets sent back by the lady Alassra it seems he will be needed.

A strange encounter with a clockwork gnome called MEEM (Motorized Electronic Examination Machine), who has no sense of humor, leads us down the road to another building similar to the first. As we enter and head down its corridor walls close in behind us and push us forward until we are standing in a strange arena whose surface seems to be made of glass with cogs turning below our feet. All the people and guards in the stand are translucent, that is you can see through them, They are obviously of Zhentarium based upon clothing and armor. A translucent Quinto Milinal appears in the center of the ring and informs us that we are to put on a gladiatorial show for the crowd, if we win he will become our prisoner and we will gain the release of Dusk and Shadow whom he’s captured but if we lose well they will die along with us. He introduces us to the Brothers Grimm whom we are to fight, they are heavily armored and step in unison side by side.

I realize immediately the device down below is a machine I was charged to destroy and given our surface we could break the glass and watch them drop through while we stay safe. Everyone ignores my advice at first but after a while as Omega and Dalarn swing at them unable to land a blow for each time they try to hit one the other Brother puts his shield out to block the incoming blow. Finally they listen and everyone starts smashing the ground around the Brothers Grimm but it was Clearice who suddenly manages to cast a spell to shatter the glass plummeting the two down below where the gears ground them up like wheat being ground to flour. With that Quinto appears solidly, congratulates us, releases Dusk and Shadow from captivity and offers himself up as our prisoner. Clearice walks right up to his smiling face and with a mighty right hook slugs him in the face knocking him unconscious.

We tie him up and return Quinto through the portal to be held prisoner by our guards. My thoughts went into a daze as I feared I would never see Amuka alive again despite our efforts at saving Dusk, Shadow and Mok. The next thing I recall is we are standing huddled on a lifting device as Omega again messes with some levers. We are thrust upwards toward the ceiling to appear inside another dimension, this one with a frozen lake and rocky shores. Standing about 100 feet away from the lift is a small island in the frozen pond with Dragonlord Kroskas standing there. Clearice wastes no time and pulls a powerful gout of flame out of the sky down upon her head before she can speak. With a cry of anguish a suddenly visible and outlined in the flames is a large undead dragon and inside is Amuka screaming in fire and pain! My heart lurches and a force inside me wills her to not be harmed as I scream out AMUKA!!! The gang rushed towards the undead Dragon intent on getting Amuka free while Clearice is crying over and over again that she’s sorry. With a final blow Omega smashes the dragons skull collapsing it.

Then as Amuka screams for us to free her we hear the powerful flapping of wings and witness the arrival of an ancient undead white dragon, a mighty Draco-Lich has arrived. It’s ghostly voice booms out “How Dare You Kill My Son!” and with one great invisible breath from long gone lungs a blizzard is unleashed. Floundering around in it I reach out towards my daughters hand still trapped inside the “baby?” undead dragon. With a great crack Morrin took out that vial given to him that morning by Mok and shatters it on the ground, with it’s breaking the blizzard instantly stops as all the snow falls straight to the ground. Suddenly Mok’s voice rings out “Not today!” and he shoots a powerful bolt of lightning which takes the Draco-Lich from the sky as it crashes to the ground nearby. Mok then falls down to the ground unconscious but the Draco-Lich rises up on its hind legs. With that same cracking of the vial our magic returns, I reach out grab my daughters hand, look back to the group and say “Sorry but I have to.” And dimension door me and her to a safe point behind some rocky pillars.

Morrin pulls out a strange pyramid device, fiddles with it, and suddenly time lurches as Morrin, Omega and Dalarn surround the great undead wyrm, it also unleashed several spells of power as I can feel my speed increased. I extract a promise from Amuka to stay in hiding and then rejoin my comrades against this ancient evil. Up close I saw metal plates welded to its bone structure which would account for its toughness as we all struggled to shatter its bones to pieces. Morrin had transformed into a Gargoyle but this foul undead still seemed to recognize him as its chilling voice rang out “I recognize you” and proceeded to grip him in its maw and unleash a blast of cold upon him. Barely standing Morrin managed to fight back against his tormentor. Dalarn bellows out Mystra’s name and grows dramatically in size and proceeds to slam into Draco-Lich. Omega repeatedly rages against the toes and ankles. I suddenly get it’s attention as it grabs me once in its maw and I feel its terrible breath just Like Morrin did, I am left struggling to survive but survive I do knowing that Amuka’s life depends on us defeating this Monstrosity. . Clearice summons a blade barrier to rip apart the sinew and bones which it does not like as Mok revived by Clearice after feinting unleashes a magical torrent upon its back. Not liking the punishment as its armor plates start falling off its bone structure the monstrosity teleports closer to Mok only to have Clearice call down a pillar of fire to shatter its spinal column. As its eye socket lights grow dim we can hear it say “This isn’t over.”

The gang rushes to the giant bone dragon and quickly break off several pieces while I look for my daughter. Suddenly Dalarn channels some energy into the skull shattering it as the rest of the body turns to dust and is blown away. We return back to the portal knowing that Dragonlord Kroskas body after getting blasted by fire, dropped upon by a massive undead dragon and then shredded by Clearice’s blade barrier will never be brought back again except through some sort of divine means.

As we step through the portal, Alassra greets us and hands me a box, and tells me to throw it in the portal, as I throw it through tiny green creatures climb out of the box and scramble into the portal closing the portal behind. Many of us figure those must have been gremlins who are renowned for living inside machines and destroying them. Alassra wishes our two captives to be turned over to see Mystra’s Justice. We agree and as I watched in fascination and perverse pleasure she sucked out their souls into rubies, utterly destroyed the bodies and then shattered the gems destroying their souls so they can never be a problem to us or anyone again.

Pleased with our destruction of the mechanical threat from the Shadowweave, the return of the child of Mystra (Mok) and our subsequent handing over 2 of the trouble makers for Mystra’s judgement she offers us each a choice of Power, Knowledge or Magic and with our choice came some strange understand of new found abilities. She then leaves as suddenly as she arrived and I stand there with Amuka’s arms wrapped around my waist and one of my arms draped around her shoulders.

Dear Journal,

Several days later after her safe return home I am still worried for her, every night she wakes up screaming in terror, I know it has to do with what happened while she was captive to the Triad. I hold her in my arms and quiet her down and spend most nights in her room watching over her. Lucky for me I don’t require much sleep thanks to a ring I wear but I wonder if she will ever get over this and move past her torment. Each day I take her down to visit friends of hers at the orphanage or through the markets to be entertained by jugglers and story tellers, she even comes along to a few of the nicer taverns I perform in throughout the city. Still she holds a deep pain quiet I know inside her heart and only time will tell how it will affect her or if she will shake off its effects and move on.

The longest day was brought to a close after one last bloody battle. We found ourselves exhausted after our clash with the circle at the Cresent Moon inn but our day had not been up we still had the meeting we had heard about at the 7 Tigers Inn. We had no other leads to go on so we decided to head straight there. Upon our arrival, we were greeted by the friendly and familiar face of Arthur Wilde and his daughter Bournetel. We made it towards our table as per usual and ordered a meal to eat as we waited for the evening to advance.

After a moments respite from the coming storm and no sign of the storm in question, we decided to look around the bar for the individuals who were said to be disguised members of the circle. I looked around the bar to no avail and thus approached the bar after hearing Pim talking with Bournetel about a large section of the Inn that was rented out by one group. I found myself at the bar conversing with Arthur Wilde where he told me of the group who rented the rooms above was no one he had ever met and that he had not seen the lord mayor or Lord Calvin Longbottle.

While I was perusing the Inn Pim snuck his way upstairs in disguise no less. I had only found this out when Omega called out to me and Xavier from across the bar claiming to have someone who kidnapped Pim. Upon closer inspection, it was Pim after all as he was claiming. He said he heard cries of pain upstairs on the third floor and came to get us. We all decided to head upstairs to the room.

As we proceeded down the Hall to the room Omega decided to listen into one of the nearby room smashing his head against the door in the process. As he realized what he did he decided to yell out Room service at the top of his lungs. Every door in the hall opened at once as we were surrounded by familiar faces ready to kill us. We begin battle taking note of Angelica of the circle in the far room with Lady Devillars other child Anabelle. As the battle progresses Xavier gets surrounded but that was the least of his worries as Angelica casts something on him making him erupt in blood covering me and everyone else nearby. He somehow remained standing and I healed him as best I could. Angelica tried to flee cutting off the way with a blade barrier leaving Xavier to take her out as she tried to fly through the window. We were greeted by the sight of a massive individual clad in armor who came to help us as well killing those who tried to run. As we freed all of the cleric circle capturies and found that Lady Anabelle and Spellswift Sunriver had died before we had gotten here sadly(May Waukeen watch over them). We brought Angelica before us and spoke to her beyond the grave. She gave away their plan and that it should be too late, of course, she was most likely lying but we did find that Maurice was still on another plane of existence. We surmised he must still be in his stone world and thus headed there promptly.

We arrived at the hole in the ground of the Devillars estate and proceeded down into the portal. Inside we found nothing but a bunch of half-dead, but mostly dead, enemy soldiers such as we met before who gave up immediately praying the man with the 2 swords did not kill them. We led them out after healing them enough to walk and Omega took them to the nearest watch post.Xavier and I headed inside to find Lady Devillars alive and well inside her study rescued by her son the 2 sword man also known as the Black Knight. She thanks us for our help in rescuing her and she lets us know Maurice escaped but we let her know we managed to kill Angelica. Again she thanks us and unpetrifies Shadow for Xavier. We, of course, refuse any reward for it was our honor and duty to save the Lady of the city.

Loot:Ring +3, Dagger +2, Cloak +2
Bracers of Unusual Defense – They are bracers of Armor +4 when not in combat. When in combat they start as Bracers of armor +0, and get better by +1 each round in combat until they reach their max bonus of +6 on Round 7.
bracers of Armor +4
1 Harper recognition point
9750 XP

So far no sign of the Triad, will continue to keep looking and posting wanted signs up around town offering 100 gold towards tips as leading to the arrest of the Triad (the city put a 500g bounty on their arrest each). Morrin checks with the wizard guild and finds out Mr. Pointy is checking through a thing called the “familiar network” something no one has ever heard off. Xavier is praying for Shadow. Omega posts an offer BY Dolly of three casks of ale for tips down by the harbor and a favor from Dolly.

Our Adventure

A summons one morning to Ironleaf Manor to met Taylin brought us upon a strange quest, for you see it was his wife who pregnant was subject to strange cravings that was deemed magical or a curse and in order to break we’d need to solve a list of 10 riddles and gather the corresponding items.

We immediately recognized Riddle 7 as being some blood from KING the noble dog who wanders Raven Bluff and that Riddle 2 refers to Sharkey’s Bar and Grill. Xavier figures Riddle 1 has something to do with a druidic grove, while Morrin manages to figure out Riddle 4, 6 and 8 being various locations one of which involves the gaining of a midwife. Out of all the items we had to collect that one probably made the most sense.

We headed off to the Briar Patch and there was greeted by a young fellow named Dunsil who seemed enthralled by having Xavier, his hero, to talk to. Thanks to Xavier’s fame, he gifted us with some acorns, berries and pinecones that were required for helping Taylin’s wife. We then decided to check out the marketplace while searching for some of the other stuff on the list as I kept a handy ham bone for trying to find KING.

At the marketplace, we spread out with Xavier and Omega checking for a quilt (riddle 5), while Morrin and myself approached a dwarf to see if he could help us figure riddle number 3. Berl Barrel Master, a tinker by trade, informed us we would need a beard and immediately refused to offer any part of us for nothing less than an outrageous amount of money. I managed to get him to offer us part of his beard if I could convince a lovely woman named Sherry who attended the Baker’s Stand across the way to kiss him. Using my good old charm and simple logic on how she could humiliate the dwarf by having him shave his beard all for a single kiss on the lips she agreed. Berl was stunned when Sherry kissed him and unwittingly cut far more of his beard off then he intended. Prize in hand we rejoined Xavier and Omega who managed to find a quilt.

Those two knuckleheads sent me on a fool’s errand to Miss McGee’s shop where I was chased by an old lady with a broom through a marketplace for simply being a halfling. The crowd loved it and I started playing up to them dancing comically away from her. I even went so far as to purchase some more cinnamon tarts from Sherry to share with Omega and Xavier but somehow slipped tossing them directly into both their faces as I went to give them theirs, needless to say everyone had a good laugh.

It was not until we were leaving the marketplace and heading for the temple of Lathander to find a midwife that Omega dropped to the ground as a small halfling stabbed him, grabbed dolly and took off running. I chased after him but bumped into Master Bard Arulis, feeling a fool I asked him which way my quarry went. Following his riddle based direction I sprinted through the alleyways and out onto a scene of KING attacking the halfling only to see KING stabbed by a poisonous dagger. I immediately drew a bead on the culprit ordering him to throw down his weapons and dolly, at which point the rest of my companions arrived. Omega got dolly back and the culprit gave up the antidote, which I used on KING, healing his wounds while I collected a sample of his blood off the streets for our scavenger hunt. It was at this point the city watch arrived and seeing KING place his paw on top of the small halfling they took him into custody as that is a sign of KING placing someone under arrest. It turns out that Riddle 9, which was near impossible to figure, became clear in the form of the Halfling’s antidote. Lucky for us he had several dosses enough or Omega and the wife.

We arrived at the temple of Lathander without further incident and convinced a midwife by name of Sunlord Tris Dawnwatch to attend to Taylin’s wife later in the evening once we have collected the rest of the items needed. We then head to Morigan’s Complete Components and collect 15 gold fish as well some Blowfish Wine as I was able to put up a wanted posted for information leading to the Triad.

At the Beginning Adventurers Benevolent Equipment Society we discovered a house with a partially opened door and strange muttering sounds coming from inside. Attempts at normal knocking failed so I used magical noise to amplify the sound only to interrupt someone and unleash 4 hook horrors on us. Omega and Xavier made short work of them and inside we found a gentleman who was upset with us for disturbing his work and causing a mess of things. We helped clean up and he gave us what we came for a strange box with something inside for Taylin’s wife.

Finally onwards to the last location which we know to be Sharkey’s Bar and Grill we reach the docks near the pier closest to Sharkey’s and three men approached us. Introducing themselves as Pete, Bill, and Todd they offer to sell us potions of water breathing that last for 1 hour for only 50 gold. While we didn’t really need I took pity on their constant need to educate new comers to Sharkey’s Bar and Grill that it is indeed underwater and they really do require a method such as the one they offer to reach it by helping spread some tales around town later of where to go to get discounted potions of water breathing for short periods of underwater activities.

As we enter Sharkey’s through the middle entrance, a waiter greets us who then takes us to a table. I order the most expensive food stuffed with the second most expensive food (Crab stuffed with squid) everyone thought it sounds delicious. Omega orders the whole menu but cannot finish it all and takes some leftovers home. We hit up the souvenir shop to get some Coral, which we figure is the last item on our list. I purchase a souvenir bottle for Omega to drink underwater booze with and a ship in a bottle like Dolly’s Anger which I put the same name on for Amuka for when we are finally reunited.

With the last item collected, we return to the Ironleaf Manor and there Taylin thanks us and lets us keep any remaining gemstones from a pouch he gave us earlier to help acquire the items listed.

Blue Coral Necklace. This lovely piece of jewelry has platinum fittings, and is made of polished branches of sea-blue coral. Silvery pearls are strung between the branches. Value: 500 gp – Xavier takes for a gift to a loved one later

Quilt of warmth: Usable only by female PCs, it allows a PC to be comfortable in weather ranging from –10 degrees to 110 degrees, and gives a +2 to saves vs. cold, fire, and lighting based attacks if it is wrapped around body at that time. It cannot be worn, it must be used as a sleeping wrap. A man can only use it when a female shares it with him. – Party Treasury
Mother MaGee’s Quilts: Moon quilt. This lovingly and expertly crafted quilt has a background of midnight blue with tiny silver stars sewn into it. The 8 panels of the quilt show the transitions between phases of the moon as it progresses through the month, each so brilliantly detailed that it almost seems as though the moon has been drawn down from the sky. Value: 500 gp – Party Treasury hanging in Xavier bedroom

Rapier of taunting +1, +3 (Bane) vs. larger than man-sized humanoids. It can taunt (as the wizard spell) any humanoid of larger than man size when faced in battle. PC has no choice but to fight with it once drawn from its sheath. – Morrin

Being awoken and brought to the Mayor’s office early in the morning. I will remember that moment as the beginning of my darkest days, even darker then the Underdark itself. It was there the Midnight Menagerie was tasked by the Lord Chancellor, Arvin Kothonos and Lord Calvin Longbottle with dealing with some coven of priests of Umberlee stirring up trouble with a plot of some sort to control the shipping lanes. As we were boarding Blackmantle’s Revenge we could see Clan Shado boarding Blackmantle’s Cutlass, I couldn’t resist the urge to mock them by pointing out the futility of their lengthy voyage. After meeting Captain Warunsun and making our devoted offerings to Umberlee we set sail to an underwater cave system believed to house them.

We dined with the captain and the officers of the ship the first evening out. The captain and crew had apparently heard a lot about us and our travels but I was still able to entertain them the secrets of the Bounty we had discovered on a previous voyage. Steele, one of the officers, goes over and congratulates Clearice on becoming a woman (when the tale is told) and says “good choice becoming a woman as we are the superior race” and everyone laughs while it seems this is the first Xavier has heard of this. Seemingly upset he moved away and tended to avoid Clearice for a portion of the journey. Meanwhile Steele shares a special drink with Clearice, some sort of wine I believe.

The next morning we arrived at the spot the grotto below the ocean is supposed to house these foul priests. We were then given potions of water breathing and something else, something that allowed us to communicate telepathically with one another while under the ocean. The bottom of the ocean showed us a sinkhole we believe to be the entrance to the cave system, nearby is a strange kelp bed which we eye carefully as we head towards the sinkhole.

Once we enter the caves, the lights go out! A big ball of light with two pincers and couple small eyes appears revealing an “eyes of the deep” a underwater beholder type of creature. Omega pulls out his friend of beholder coin and manages to talk our way through without trouble even though we didn’t know the password. It appears this creature was set as a guard for those inside.

We reach a chamber with two archway passages going forward and complete blackness unable to see what lays inside each, above is a plaque with runes on them over each arc. Not sure what the language is we manage to figure out it’s some sort of code, getting frustrated I asked Tymora for guidance as always and I’m told to head left. Xavier however breaks the code, seems he’s very good at that, and confirms what I already learned that left is safe while right would lead to destruction.

Heading into this darkness we are surprised to discover it’s some sort of ink forced to stay in place in the hallway underwater, we prepare for a fight against some sort of squid creature we figure might be lurking inside. As we travel down the pathway I’m eventually stopped by bumping into Morrin, a struggle ensues up ahead of me but I’m unable to see just what is going on and no one is talking. I back up and eventually hear it’s all clear as there was some specters that the group fought off just outside the inky black.

Rounding the bend we see prisoners caged up and a ritual sacrifice to Umberlee being performed. Some drow elf priests along with a Kuo-Toa and a Saughin are gathered around a pool of water which has a deep middle spot that holds a large octopus creature circling around a helpless woman. I summon the shark gang, Bitey, Chomper, Gnasher and Ralph to distract the octopus while Morrin ports Omega and himself into the fray. With a mighty blow Omega slays the octopus but in retaliation the Saughin using his trident, unleashed a blast of electricity into the water near Omega sadly turning my shark friends into fast fry food.

Omega and Morrin dealt with the Saughin, Kuo-Toa and priests while Xavier, Clearice and myself deal with a new threat as the pesky Triad shows up unleashing fireballs upon me. I never felt as good as when I dropped two of them with arrows!

None of our enemies escaped but when we checked on the Triad they were still moving somehow! Removing their cloaks we saw that two of them were young girls and one a tattooed young man.

Morrin recognized one of the young girls as a slave girl from when he and a few other older members of the Menagerie saved her from an ambassador of Thay and then gave her back to them as a slave! She smiles as she says, “Guess you remember me but don’t worry I killed my master and I am earning my own place as your death will assure my position in the red wizards”. The male Triad says “I’m sure none of you remember me but you might remember my fatherThunderhips! The Zhentarium general wearing the armor of Thay”. While the other girl with a tattoo of the cult of the dragon says “No one remembers me and who I am doesn’t matter, my master is the one you will have to answer too. Thank you for falling for our distraction. While you’ve been here we’ve taken measures to deal with you.” They then turn into snowflakes. With that 3 rings drop to the ground spent of their magical power but not before we realize they must have been rings of last request which allowed the wearers to monologue before death. Unsure if those were really the 3 Triad members or clones of them their motives are now obvious and it seems a splinter group of both the Thavian, Zhentarium and the Cult of the Dragon are working together to seek our destruction.

We free the captives feed and heal them then help them back to the ship waiting on the ocean above. We head back to Raven’s Bluff and it is there those ominous words about taking measures to deal with us are realized for we are quickly told our keep was assaulted! Rushing to the keep, we find chaos. The keeps blasted from the outside with damage to the turrets and scorch marks from fireballs and lightning blasts. Inside we see Grink being treated by a cleric of Waukeen. His face is swollen and part of one of his arms is missing. Magical healing saved his life. In the corner, we see the Blinky our baby beholder and its central eye swollen shut and unconscious with a brick nearby that someone must have thrown at him. Clearice rushes to help Blinky. We find another 2 dozen guards killed and more wounded. We find out a bunch of squads of Zhentarium and powerful mages assaulted the keep. Shadow is missing and according to a guard he was taken. Another guard rushes up to inform us that Dolly’s Anger is on fire! Clearice takes flight towards the harbor and manages to help put it out but not before serious damage is done the vessel and all the crew killed except for Clampett our cook who was aboard Blackmantle’s Revenge with us.

When Clearice returns from the harbor she is stunned as all her money and jewels fly away as she is cursed by what she drank on the ship by Lady Steele, feels the only way to remove the curse is by drinking what was previously drank on the ship. It is found that Lady Steele was found kidnapped in the hull of the ship and was replaced by a shapeshifter who gave her the drink. The same shapeshifter that started this whole mess by stealing some powerful artifacts for the priests of Umberlee to being their nefarious plans. Until this curse is lifted, Clearice a cleric of Waukeen is unable to handle money or jewels of any sort!

That was when I found out Amuka was missing with a guard telling me she was taken captive and placed aboard a Dragon via a net! My vision went blurry then red as I started pummeling the keeps walls. The darkest days have come as I vow to never rest until she is back in my arms.

We spent the next couple of days trying to get the keep back in order and seeking information throughout the city. Morrin uses the mirror of recall and finds out that Shyrrinti Icebreath an ancient white dragon whispered something “this isn’t over” as it died but no one heard during the heat of the moment. This clue may have something to do with the female with the cult of the dragon tattoo last remark about having to deal with her master. Omega checks with the harbor patrol and seems 3 mages using scroll appeared and blasted Dolly’s Anger with fire, lightning and plague at the same time. Clearice checks with the cleric circle to find her curse is Zhentarium in nature. Xavier tries to track the intruders with some help but finds most teleported or flew in. The old man who brought him back to life appears; offers to speak with one of the dead guards only to find their souls were removed, and is unsure how such a thing could have happened.

As for me, well I stand before you fine folks of Raven’s Bluff here in this tavern, telling you this tale and vowing revenge upon the Triad. Let the word go forth that there is a reward for the safe return of my daughter and this message for the Triad and all who help them “If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have much money. But what I do have are a very particular set of bardic skills, bardic skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that’ll be the end of it.”

LC4-108

We have had a bit of good luck on this longest of days. Following a lead we got after the ambush in the temple district (Those damned circle members summoned Roosters into the middle of the temple district!) we have actually found Lady Devillars kids and we have learned of others who the circle are after (Sgt Rockcrusher in particular). Of course, this came at no small price as Xavier Scraped past death twice once at the hands of an archer in the temple district and another time as we seiged the room at the Crescent moon inn inhabited by the lovely bitch Jarandella and her despicable cohort Marena.

That room was a piece of work for sure though it was 3 times larger than it should have been and must have had a failsafe against extradimensional spaces due to Mok not accidentally killing us all. Of course, they had more Roosters in this room as well with their dreaded spores, but we managed to defeat our foes even if the real circle members escaped.

I am left wondering though if those lesser members were the same ones that attacked us in the temple district. They seemed to use similar magic and even looked the same though slightly different in the face. The cleric summoned the Roosters while the mage buffed the fighters around them all. The archer seemed to know magic of his own as well but his arrows were most familiar of all and very painful. At the temple district they had been far more bloodthirsty though a few of us might have even died had it not been for Warhawk Starsons entrance to the fray. I only regret not being more helpful in that battle but I ended up stuck inside of the building due to the haste of the guard with the portcullis. I fear that the confrontation ahead of us may be the most difficult of all. The circle will be all in one place I only hope they will be as tired as we are now so we stand a chance against the power of their magic. Maybe Warhawk will be able to give us some help if he has repelled the attacks on the Roost and Griffin Hall in time. I do believe the threat and danger are rising as we ride towards the 7 Tigers Inn this evening.

400 gold on dead
magic ring(Quirky ring of water shape changing)The ring allows the wearer to polymorph into a water creature once per adventure. The new form must be the same mass as the PC in normal form. The transformation lasts for one turn. Each use drains one charge. The ring starts with 15 charges 10 minute time

We were greeted this morning with a letter from the fair Lady Mayor requesting our assistance urgently. We of course set out for her abode immediately. upon arrival we find no guards and only a dense fog in her windows. This is was a definite sign of something being amiss so we used our chime of opening on the door and burst inside setting off the alarm. We clear the fog and a re confronted by The Lady’s Maid Belinda. She believes we are normal intruders till we show her the letter from The Lady. As she bursts into tears the City watch bursts through the door proclaiming we have broken the law. We explain ourselves of course and our requested help. Belinda chimes in that the fair Lady is missing and the watch go to file a report. As they leave Belinda composes her self and leads us to the Lady’s sitting room. She tells us that the last she saw the Lady she had become agitated due to something and her butler was going to bring her some tea. That was the last time she saw Lady Devillars and the butler. We search the Lady’s study and find a letter from the Circle of Four member Maurice who claimed to have kidnapped her kids. We begin the rest of our investigation immediately. I decided to stay in the study to analyze the Ladys tea cup for poison. The others find nothing in the kitchen and my examination of the tea cup yields nothing. As we ponder our next step we here noise from the Lady’s room upstairs. My companions move to investigate while us left in the study continue our search for some other clue. My companions return down stairs with the butler in tow and fill us in that some shape changers in the form of Lord Charles O’Cain and Lord Calvin Longbottle infiltrated the house stabbing the butler and taking his form as well. This of course explained how she was kidnapped so easily without a trace. They must have escaped somewhere though So we checked the backyard to find a hole dug in the ground leading away from the Lady’s house. We charged into it hoping to catch the ones responsible. At the very bottom we find a portal which we charge through before it closes and end up in and underground stone cavern with see through walls. Across a long expanse we see Lady Lauren Devillars encased in stone and Maurice sitting on an earthen throne. He of course monologues to us about how great and powerful he is and how he will have his revenge and how he plans on bringing the dead member of the circle back to life like he is a god or something. He of course reveals to us that there is a battle at the docks as the Circle Spreads chaos to Ravens Bluff. Once he finished his monologue he finishes casting imprisonment on the Lady and bids us farewell. Little did he know that he left a book we could see in the corner of his room before the walls became normal stone again. I decide to dimensional hop to grab this book but find the room was twice as far as we thought as i am shunted 100 ft to the room very painfully. I grab the book and come back to the party and read it as says,
It will be a simple matter to gain my revenge against Lauren DeVillars, while at the same time dealing a mighty blow to Ravens Bluff. Lauren was instrumental in the formation of several prominent organizations in the city, organizations like the city’s knightly orders. If anything were to happen to her the knights and the rest of the city would be devastated. Her suffering will give me great satisfaction as it is her fault that my brother is dead.
I managed to persuade the rest of the Circle to go along with my plans. Jerendella and Marina took some convincing, but the new air elementalist provided her support right from the start. It’s so refreshing to have a team player as the replacement for Mortimer. I’m glad that we disposed of him, especially after we learned that he was using his magic to influence us. I just wish that we had done it sooner, before he was able to get that limited control over us. Luckily for us he detailed his plans very carefully. I must remember not to put all of my thoughts down on paper, at the very least I have learned form Mortimer’s stupidity.
It was a little odd though that he wasn’t prepared for the possibility of his death, in the event that we discovered his treachery, especially with that improved cloning spell that he created. I mean he knew that it worked, look at all the mayhem it helped cause when he used it on that pegasus that escaped from Ambassador Carrague’s. Well enough of that.
In order to come up with the perfect plan for revenge against the high and mighty Lauren DeVillars I did some research on her. I learned that she has four children, children who will be unwitting pawns in my plans of revenge against their mother. It was simple business to locate three of them and send them messages from “their mother” requesting that they return home as she had a very important matter to discuss with them. Once the children set out to meet with their mother it was child’s play for my cohorts to capture them so that I could work on laying the foundation for my plans against Lauren.
I would have a letter delivered to Lauren claiming that one of her children was in trouble. Lauren being the manipulator that she is will summon some of the city’s adventurers to investigate this for her. She would never dirty her hands with anything that she can trick other people to do for her, even seeing to the safety of her own children. When the heroes arrived they would discover that Lauren was nowhere to be found. The heroes would be able to find out that Lauren was captured, and with a careful examination of the grounds they would discover that she was taken below ground.
While doing research to discover the perfect plan for revenge against both the city and Lauren I discovered a way to bring back my brother. I met a priest of Leira, named Illustra, who told me that she could bring my brother back to life. All I needed was a body for my brother’s spirit to inhabit. I couldn’t use his body because after ten years it wouldn’t be in the best shape, as death kind of wears a body down.
When the adventurers came looking for Lauren I could reveal my true plans to them, after all it’s not like they could do anything to stop me. I’d tell Lauren but in her present state she wouldn’t be able to comprehend what’s going on. The potion of insanity and the sovereign glue have put the old crone in the perfect position to be dealt with. It was child’s play to hit her with the potion of insanity, especially with one of our operatives posing as her butler. The butler served her some tea to calm her nerves as she was quite agitated. Since the tea came from her butler she never thought to check it out before drinking it. Once she was under the effects of the potion it was easy to overpower her and coat her lips with sovereign glue.
I decided that my brother coming back to life would be part of my plans for revenge against Lauren. As she had four children, and she was the one responsible for my brothers death I decided that one of her children should provide the necessary body. Once the Circle seized control of the city Lauren and I would be married. While she isn’t exactly my type, I will make the sacrifice knowing how much it would kill her to constantly be around my brother in the body of one of her children.
After reading his true plans we decide we should attempt to save The Lady using Pimfire’s favor of Waukeen but after jumping back to the spot the spell was cast we are informed by the Golden Lady she sadly could not assist us in this endeavor so we returned to the surface to aid in the battle at the docks. We arrive to unseen levels of destruction from all elements of nature. The dead must have numbered in the hundreds if not thousands. As we gained our bearing of just what we were looking at we spotted The Lord of Mystery Chester Demark, a High Priestess of the temple of Mystra, and Angelic Nereid the Dean of the elements battling near by us against the forces of evil. They were to preoccupied to notice the invisible footsteps creeping up behind them though so Mok springs forward igniting the steps with sliver fire and a fire ball killing them instantly. Pim decides to dive into the water to call the Tritons for help. As he hits the water more enemies of Raven’s Bluff appear behind us scoffing at us for interfering with the fight here. As we begin to fight these heathens we all hear a voice in our heads informing us we have been afflicted by Maurices Greater Malfeasance which left a gripping pain around my heart of varying magnitude and pain depending on the action i performed leaving me wounded and haggard. As we defeated some of the minions around us 3 more appeared in the form of a Cleric, Mage and an Archer. As they continued to deal damage to us they manage to turn Shadow to stone just before Morrin surrounds them with a stinking cloud. They never came back out of that stinking cloud but the damage had been done. We clean up the remaining thugs as Corporal Blank comes out of a nearby sewer grate with a prisoner he captured who we were prepared to question immediately but decided to take him to the nearest city watch barracks. Omegasun and Pim head off to question the prisoner and while they are there some prisoners had staged a mutiny and killed the guards watching them and killed Corporal Blank as he entered the prison area. They were of course beaten and captured by Omega and Pim and brought with the group to nearest barracks besides the now unmanned one. They had also interrogated our prisoner and found that the Circle planned on meeting at the 7 tigers inn in disguise and that there was a plan to attack the temple district which had already happened we found out later. Mok sends a letter to the temple district to warn them and tell them what we know. We than head Lord Blacktree’s house in the city to see what had happened there. We find a similar picture to Lady Lauren Devillars home and rush inside and upstairs to find Lady Blacktree being attacked by some of the dock thugs. We dispatch them and i heal the Lady but as we are rescuing her Maurice blasts through the roof(Or so im told i dont trust looking up into some kind of blinding magic) sees us rescuing the Lady and leaves. We decide we must hurry to the other houses to see who we can save. Mok teleports Lady Blacktree to the temple of Mystra while we head towards the Sunriver Estate. We arrive to a blown open door and a chilling quite. We enter to see a dead Lieutenant and an empty house with smell of death and burning hair.
I speak with the Lieutenant from beyond the grav and he tells us that Jarandella of the Circle of four killed him along with Marena(Other circle member) and Lord Charles O’Cain. He says before he died he saw them Attempting to lightening bolt somebody in the house but died shortly after. I write this as we ride onward towards our next objective in our fair city and Pray that Waukeen guides us through the turbulent day to victory against these heathens who would attack us and our city.

As the fat old mule I ride roams around a very dark forest I write what may very well be my last thoughts on this long and adventurous life I have lived. Many is the tale I could tell and have over my time here on Faerûn yet none so strange or amazing as these last 24 hours for I was but a young halfling a day ago. We had traveled on a secret mission to a place I can’t name and there came upon an ancient relic we were to investigate. It was this relic which when we solved its mystery and activated it that accelerated our aging process aging me drastically on the spot along with my companions.

I remember how very dark the room became and everything beyond a couple feet was just a blur. Even now I have to squint as my face is pressed against the paper as I write this, Stop bouncing me around! Now look what you made me right. Gesh. Sorry about that but Omega is not what he used to be. Complaining all the time about mud. I do not see any mud the ground just looks like a gray blob of concrete, stupid barbarian go eat another book! Where was I? Oh, yes back in my time we respected our elders and listened to what they had to say so pay more attention and stop getting distracted!

Now as I was saying when we came too and realized what had happened I got an urge to eat supper so badly I knew it must have been about midafternoon and this delightful meal was laid out by some bus boys I never did catch his name. Anyways after just a few bites and some horrible jokes that nice young man helped me to my room and I gave him a candy, he is so sweet if your ever visiting him tell him I said so. Now where was I? Dang it right its naptime. Don’t you know it is rude to wake up your seniors! Come back in the morning.

The following morning we set out to find somebody I cannot remember about the thing that had caused us to age. I remember along the way Omega just stopped dead cold in his tracks would not take another step and some female youngsters started getting all-uppity towards us. I gave them a good scolding about how they outta treat old folks better and if any of them came closer, I would smack’em upside the head. What do ya know but after I was finished ranting at them they ran off like a bunch of cowards because not one of them came forth for an ass whooping!

Later some guards tried to give us trouble but I chased them off too waving my trusty cane at them even to the point where I threw it! But this sweet young thing named Candy came up to me later and gave me back my cane, she was sweet so I gave her a candy and apparently Morrin said she could play with Dusk. Then some big strong guy, much stronger then Omega got in the way of a charging blob, can only assume Morrin let his Rhino out, and he was nice think his name was Brutus he listened for a while until the old mule came over put me back on his shoulders and dragged me off to a Tavern, which was nice of him to do so as I was getting thirsty. Hey, watch the door! Dang it Omega stop causing me to write what I am saying to you!

I would like to mention that I did not die of old age that day or for many days to come I hope. We got the curse lifted by a mage in that tavern and there was many a crowd to entertain for the couple of days we spent visiting with the locals. So many where curious as to what happened I found myself repeating the story to the point where I fear it’s grown into some sort of legend amongst the local populace. It was in front of a crowded tavern that we aged backwards to our youthful selves and that kind of thing is not seen often. For now, just excuse the above memoirs for there is many more tales to fill this journal with before such time, as I need to recount a bardic life well lived.

LC4-106

I began my morning as any other reading a book after my morning fitness with Blinky. Yoga is quite exhilarating as it turns out. Of course my reading was interrupted as causal by a message at the door. We were being summoned to the Temple of Illmater in Crows End to speak with a Father Andreas. We arrive and he tells us that a priest of Illmater named Brother Urik has disappeared between A local soup kitchen of Illmater named The Blessed Zinna’s Sanctuary and the temple. He tells us of a letter addressed to Urik from Sgt Wellis of the city watch. He offers us money but we decline and accept the mission deciding to check the city watch barracks in Crow’s End for Sgt wellis. We are greeted by Corporal Been who tried to turn us away till He realized we had City guard members with us as well. He tells us of an investigation into missing person’s in Crow’s End that have been abnormally high. They thought they might have had a breakthrough by finding some bodies around Crow’s End. We of course want to see them and he oblidges. The first 1st body was stabbed and hacked in the back with fungus in wound. The 2nd was bitten in half by some creature drained of blood. The 3rd was stabbed in the back and drained of blood. We used speak with dead on the the bodies and found out the 3rd victim was named Kris and was attacked and dragged into an Alley outside of the Silken Stairs were she worked. The 2nd Body was of a cook on a ship called the Blue Wind who was dragged into and Alley behind the Drunken Dryad by some large creature. The First Body however only rasped when Speak with Dead was used as if its soul was gone or damaged. The corporal tells us that Sgt Wellis was heading to the docks last time he saw him so we decided to head there. We arrive at Dock 18 were he was last supposed to have been. We bribe a dock goer who tells us he saw him go below the docks the day before but he never came back out. We thank him of course and head down below. As we decend something moves off into the sewer entrance below the dock but i was shocked to see a body stuck to one of the beams under the dock. I flew out to grab the body and brought it back to the landing. The body was one of a Halfling male. We took what was on his body so it wouldnt be looted and hired the dock worker from before to take the body to it back to the city watch barracks. We than enter the sewer to find a feral Lizard Man who we quickly dispatch. When he falls though there is a sound like a bow string snapping as something shoots into the water. We cant find what it was but we find the remains of Sgt Wellis having been eaten almost entirely. The Lizard man and the Halfling Both had wounds in there backs with the same fungus as the soul damaged corpse. I began to have my suspicions of all of this being caused by some kind of life draining parasite. As we begin to leave we are greeted by Corporal Been who tells us he has found another body so we accompany him back to the barracks. We go back down into the cellar where they keep the bodies in the Barracks to find Brother Urik lying on the table next to the other bodies. We use speak with dead to communicate with him and he tells us he was killed goiing to check up on a Widow named Talia due to him hearing of the loss of her kid. He tells us he died similarly to the other victims being stabbed in the back dragged into and alley and drained of blood. I decided that my hypothesis was likely correct and it is a parasite creature. We decide to investigate the areas were the first 3 bodies were found next. We first went to the drunken Dryad to which we found nothing odd about the sight of the murder besides a convenient sewer grate that hadnt appeared to have been moved in a while. We enter the tavern and find that the widow Talia actually works there. We request her service and inquire about Brother Urik to which she tells us she was working for him gathering info and rumors on the disappearances. She also tells us about the halfling who was trying to solve the disappearances who we found under the dock his name was Millot. After she finishes giving us this information Pim decides he is going to entertain the tavern even though people are still going missing so i decide not to entertain his musings. As i leave the rest of us leave as well leaving Pim to entertain for a few hours. We go and check out The Blessed Zinna’s Sanctuary as our last lead on this case. We find a clergywomen of Illmater inside named Sister Karra. We ask her about Brother Urik who she shows concern for but of course i break the news to her that he has died to the creature causing all of these disappearances. She is visually shocked of course and tells us she has been doing the same thing as Tailia gathering rumors for Brother Urik. she than asks us if we will stay the night at the sanctuary. She says she has a feeling that something bad is going to happen which i admit i felt in the air as well. We of course had to retrieve Pim before our nights stay. Of course we cant let Pim have so much fun by himself with no work so we devise a plan to scare him. As we called Pim outside of the Tavern Xavier hid inside the Alleyway. As Pim walked towards us Xavier came out grabbing him and pulling him into the Alley terrifying him!! (It was the best Prank Ever!!) I have to say Xavier is a bit of a shadow himself not just his canine companion. After Pim cleans his pants with Prestidigitation we head back to the Sanctuary. We have dinner together with the Orphans that live here and the Sisters. We decide to sleep in different rooms to make sure everyone is safe. I am than awoken by the sound of breaking glass and loud thuds. Through the window had jumped a Large Toad the size of a horse and 2 smaller toads with needle like teeth. All of the girls in the room began to scream as the toads lashed out biting me while the large one swallowed one of the girls whole. I quickly realize that they have the same worm like organism that must have been in the other victims backs and i move to attack them. Upon hitting the Parasite it detaches and the toad died instantly Pim comes in and sees the parasites as well and begins helping kill the 2 smaller toads. I decide he can handle them so i jump out of the window to find what is controlling the toads. I follow the tether all the way to a sewer grate were is disappears into the darkness. I than try to move the grate to little avail but my companions soon come and helped me once they dispatched what i can only assume was there own toads. We enter the sewer following the direction the last tendril had gone off in. We follow the path till we find a large crack in the wall that looked very out of place. We assume this must be were the parasites came from. We enter the Crevice and are overwhelmed by an alien feeling. we follow this new cavern that must have been a part of Old Sarbreen after a few hours we find a cavern around a turn and we see what i can describe as a Primordial Slayer of men. The cavern was Huge and filled, to the ceiling in some places, with bones. In the center of these bones was an ancient Dwarven Warrior with a thick black Tether Tentacle coming out of its back. The worst part was that if you followed the tentacle up you would see the Parasite who drained a Brother Urik of life and all of these other people. As i have said i can only describe it as a Primordial Slayer of Man. It must have been some ancient parasite who had been down here long before Ravens Bluff was even an idea. It was a huge Gelatinous slime creature that looked like a giant amalgamation of all of the coagulated blood produced by the deaths of all of these former citizens. Dangling from this Abomination were thousands of the parasitic tethers we had seen on the toads and the lizard man. The dwarven warrior seeing us seemed to issue a challenge and readied for battle. Omega of course moves to accept that challenge while Morrin flies forward as well transforming into a large gargoyle. I tried to cast multiple spells at the Slayer but most failed besides a few. Omega put up a fight to the dwarf but was ultimately almost killed due to its unnatural strength and skill its axe cutting into him deeply. I did my best to keep him alive though he almost fell. but we managed to kill the Slayer and thus its thrall. As the slayer died its bloody existence fell down upon us all. We looked around the cave for any valuables and than crawled our way back out to tell what had happened. We went to tell Father Andreas and the City Watch what we had found. We were rewarded with the following loot and were able to keep what we found inside of the cavern.

30000 Copper pieces
2000sp 10sp
100 gp 30gp
5PP
120bobbles worth 400gp
suit of dwarven full plate non magical masterwork
Hand axe +3 stoat oak with mithral blade
Golden Amulet w/ golden chain design of fire brething hell hound and frost breathing wolf and allows a casting of control temp at 10th level 10 ft radius
Well made medicine bag resists water and fire(Potion of healing 2 vials of holy water)
Dagger +2 reach extender
silver dagger 25gp
wake up with a small tattoo of a white xena flower gift of illmator 1 use allows someone else to reroll a failed saving throw can be used after the result is known

Today i received an invitation to a dinner of fate with my favorite Oracle Madam Coth. As i was getting ready i ran into the the rest of the menagerie getting ready having been invited themselves to our illustrious dinner. We rented a carriage and i picked out a new dress and we were on our way to our meeting of fate. We arrive at the 7 tigers inn to find Madam Coth had not yet arrived but we did find Bournetal who told us they were quite busy lately due to The Roost being closed for renovations(Which some how Pim had no idea even though he is a Rooster himself Tsk Tsk). With Golden Roosters around every corner Madam Coth Arrives as we stand to let the Madam take her seat at our table. She sips wine with us and tells us the reason for our meeting. She had gathered us together on this day to tell us of her dreams as of late and to send us to find the Rouge of the World, a famous Rouge who is legendary in the land of Ferun even said to have stolen Eleminsters Pipe. After telling us our mission she hands us a scroll that is an encoded message to the Rouge Of the World. She gave us another scroll that told us the places of interest from her dreams and what happened in her dreams should we forget. It read as such.
Location 1: The Nevin Street Compter: Madam Coth had a dream that a new prisoner was being brought in and that the prisoners name was Forsineous. She checked there but no prisoner of that name was brought in recently. She also checked Belanor’s old room just in case.

Location 2: The Silvermoon Playhouse: Here Madam Coth dreamt about a play involving the rogue. She is not sure if this dream was not the result of overworking the situation. Although the dream had a sort of funny ending as the show did not go on, since the rogue had literally stolen the show.

Location 3: The Crescent Moon Inn: In many recent dreams, Madam Coth has remembered the Crescent Moon, although none of them involved the Rogue directly. She is not sure if anything can be found here, in fact she has had lunch there twice this week without anything occurring.

Location 4: The House of Desires: The magic traders have often been part of Madam Coth’s dreams since the mysterious owners are involved in many events in the city. She is not sure what they might have to offer, but does remember asking for a blue rose in one or two of the dreams.
Along with this scroll she gave us a coin that would glow when the Rouge of the world was near. We decided to go to the Play first (Yayyyy!!!) since it would close if we went anywhere else. As we are we decided that some if us should go in and the others wait outside. Of course i wanted to have an enjoyable night so i insisted on going inside along with Pim and Omega. So we all got in line and purchased our tickets. We enter to seethe beautiful Playhouse, Owned by Lord Lorian Darkarrow, stunned by its beautiful architecture. We order some drinks from the bar and proceed to our seats. The play tells a story of 2 star struck lovers who belong to two different warring factions in the city that they live in. It had started out as a beautiful love story but ended tragically as they both died in a heartbroken suicide. The play went on without a hitch and the coin i held never started glowing but as a final effort we went down to see the play-master Yvandolyn. We asked him if anything suspicious had gone on lately relating to a rouge but he said things were great actually and that he has guest performers quite often to which Pim offered to be one if he needed a performer. He thanked Pim for the offer and we parted ways. We met with the group outside who had nothing to report so we decided to travel to the House of Desires next to look for our elusive Rouge. We arrived to find a Lady named Donna who was watching the Shop while Seraphane was away. She said she hadnt heard of any Blue Roses but had some items for sale we could buy if we helped her with a Riddle. We agreed to help her with her Riddle of course if only just to help. It went as follows:

Two grandmothers, with their two granddaughters;
Two husbands, with their two wives;
Two fathers, with their two daughters;
Two mothers, with their two sons;
Two maidens, with their two mothers;
Two sisters, with their two brothers;
yet only six all lie buried here;
All born legitimate, from incest clear.
How might this happen?
She tells us it was found on a Mausoleum in the kingdom of Mulhorand.
We deduce that it must be If two widows had a son each, and each widow married the son of the other and had a daughter with there new husbands, all the relationships would be non incestuous. She thanked us for our help and sold Mok a wand of icestorms with 25 charges. After we finished up in the house of desires we decide the best place to go to since it was still late would be the Crescen Moon inn. We arrive outside to see a young beggar who me and Pim give a coin to. He tells us to take heed for when you enter the inn you are cleaned. Thanking him for his words of warning we enter and the magic coin glows for a moment than pops and fizzles. The head cook approached me asking what that thing was (He kinda scared me) so i replied i dint know so he shooed me out into the street. Crestfallen i sat down waiting for my companions outside. Xavier joined me outside so i wasnt alone thankfully. After what seemed like ages the others exited telling us they now know the name of thew Rouge and were to look for him so we made haste towards The Swill And Spill. On the way Omega gave me a piece of food that was much appreciated since i wasnt able to eat at the inn. We arrived at the Spill and Swill to be escorted in by some lovely Street thugs. We buy them drinks inside and are greet by a halfling claiming to be the one we are looking for named Mohammed. Pim, drunkenly i might add, calls him out on his bluff as he tries to get us to give him magical items for his trouble. Realizing he had been made he threw out coins of darkness across the room. He escaped before i could true seeing through the darkness. I cast Daylight on the room to dispel the darkness allowing everyone to see. As we decide what to do a Halfling comes from behind the bar holding up the scroll we were sent to deliver. Standing before us is the actual rouge of the world Gevecus who stole that scroll from Mohammed after he tried to steal it from us. After opening it and introducing himself he tosses it to us to decipher. We fail to decipher it faster than him so he just takes it and shows us up telling us the message inside. He tells us that King, The hero Dog, has been kidnapped. He remembers seeing a group of dogs in the sewer captured by some robed figure but hadnt thought anything of it till now. He tells us we must go down into the sewers to see if one of those dogs was King while he goes to check some other ideas. As we enter the seewer we come to a water filled room that Omega immediately begins walking across on the edge. As he reaches the halfway point a Death Tyrant floats out of the water attacking him and Pim. Pim falls into the water while Mok flanks the Undead blasting it with magic Morrin following suite. It backs into the back of the room turning Morrin to stone, though we didnt realize till later. Omega Xavier and Mok Slay the undead and than we realize that Morrin was turned to stone by the Death Tyrant. We decide to leave him for now so that we may confront the robed figure and save King. We continue on through the passage way to find a door to a room full of Ice Hounds. We are attacked by them immediately but Mok disintegrates them all with an acid ball. Whe enter the room to see King along with 5 other dogs. We than saw a now melted stairway leading upwards to trap door with which we all travel up to Mok and Omega leading the way. They open it and enter before everyone else but by the time i try to lookmup into it there is an awful cloud covering the trap door Xavier and I opt to not climb through as we dont know what the Cloud was. We begin to notice the floor charring and sagging so we flee back down the stairs to avoid whatever fire is above. Mok and Omega than come down telling us of the 2 casters who were upstairs that ran as soon as they were injured and the large fire elemental they had conjured to protect them. And if that wasnt crazy enough we were underneath the Roost all along and the Elemental almost burned it to the ground had it not been for Mok and his quick thinking using the rod of extinguishing! Than after all of that happened we returned to wear we left Morrin and he was nowhere to be seen!!! We met up with Madam Coth and Gevecus Who congratulated us on a job well done. We were rewarded with a Magical Pipe and some magical armor bracers but we still didnt know of Morrins fate till Gevecus told us to look for him where one would rest handing us a vial to cure his stone state. We followed his hint and found Morrin at his bed. We used the liquid on him and returned him to normal thus ending our wild night in the city. Though i do wonder what Madam Coth had been saying when we left but oh well Morrin is safe now and thats what matters.

Loot:
Ivory Pipe of Aroma – when smoked this pipe creates a warm, friendly scent in a 10-foot cubic area. It can produce the scent of any plant, or woodland scent including garlic and wolfsbane. This scent has no game mechanic effect—it just smells nice. Scents which would drive away hostile creatures (such as wolvesbane or garlic repelling werewolves) provide no more protection from the creatures than the actual plant would provide(Mok)
-These robes provide AC 4 protection to evil wizards and priests, AC 6 protection to neutral wizards and priests, and no protection to anyone else. The robes are permanently black with a bloodstained design. Undead are automatically non-hostile to the wearer. The robes have the permanent smell of death and repulse normal animals and reduce Reaction checks among humanoids by one category (worse) for the whole group of people with the robe wearer.(Turned in for tithe Credit)
-Bracers of Armor +4(Clearice)

I was disturbed by a knock at our door at 4 A.M.. I was in the library reading a book on this new trend sweeping the city known as Yoga while Blinky floated around nearby eating his breakfast. The Menagerie was being summoned by the Lady Mayor to meet by the docks. Of course we all obliged and we set out to our place of meeting. On the way there there was a ghastly sense of dread hovering over us sending a slight chill down my spine. As we approached the meeting place 6 heavily robed figures approached us with weapons half drawn. They recognized us at once and ushered us into a nearby building.
Inside we were greeted by The Lady Mayor and 5 other city officials. We take a seat by the fire as per there offer and the Lady Mayor begins to tell us the tale of Bezlamon the evil Mage who impersonated Vernon Condor via some sort of body swapping spell resulting in Vernon Condor being nabbed by an unknown force. The man Bezlamon was apprehended but the fate of the missing Vernon Condor is Unknown to the Council and thus they called the Menagerie to find out. The Lady Mayor mentioned a portal that was opened at the place of The Vultures disappearance. They had sent 20 soldiers inside of it to scout it out but they had not returned in 3 days so the worst was to be feared. We of course agreed and set out immediately to the portal at the prison of Illwater. As we approach the Anomalous portal i cant help but feel a pang of excitement at the prospect of rescuing our friend the Vulture it sent thoughts of one day becoming a Silver Hawk running through my head. As we entered the portal, which was ironically at the front gate of a prison, we could immediately tell we were not in Illwater anymore. This realm was a pocket dimension and the portal was only one way for as we entered the portal we found ourselves in a cave with only stone at our backs. Seeing no other way to go we proceed further into the tunnel to enter a huge cavern full of lava coming from waterfalls and forming large pools. we approached an exit on other side to see a pile of ash and bits of armor bearing the seal of Ravensbluff. Pimfire Approached the monument of death and seemed to have triggered some sort of trap which to our despair seemed to have awoken an Ancient Red Dragon sleeping in the lava. I was mortified at the sight of such a beast and fled in fear as such a creature could obliterate us in a confined space. We all began to run for the exit of the cave as the Lava began to rise. the Dragon than reared back its ugly head and breathed fire on us all nearly killing me and severely injuring everyone else besides Omegasun and Xavier. As we exited the cave leaving smoke trails behind us we healed our wounds and gained our bearings spotting a trail leading to a hut in the distance. As we approached the cabin we were met with the odd sight of a skeleton with 2 pin points of light for eyes who introduces himself as the Ancient. He beckons for us to enter his shack as friends.
We enter after dropping our suspicions at the door. He than begins to explain to us that he is the welcomer of all new comers to this realm. This realm being a semi-sentient prison that torments all who find themselves here till there death. As he explained our predicament it suddenly clicked in my mind that we were actually speaking to a lich though he didnt seem to be inherently evil. Once he finished his introduction we asked him if he had seen Vernon Condor or as he may have looked when he came here Bezlamon. He tells us that he had seen a man of that description about a week ago. The Ancient tells us he has been in this land since the beginning and that all who come here must ban together for survival and must take an oath to uphold that one law. We all take the oath that we shall not attack another prisoner unless in self defense. As we prepare to part from the Ancient he gives all of us 1 healing potion labeled poison each and sends us on our way. For some reason Xavier stayed in the shack for a little bit longer but when i called for him he came and thus we departed towards the nearby settlement the Ancient told us Vernon went. As we traveled to the settlement it seemed as if the forest itself was impeding our journey even down to the blades of grass. As night time fell the sky turned purple and we begin to feel a slight rumble from the earth as several insect like Grogs burst from out of the ground. The ancient had warned us of them so we were not taken by surprise and we dispatched them quickly and decided to try to rest for the night. As we try to rest we are all troubled by visions of a red figure tormenting us and we are unable to rest for any amount of time. We continue to the village after our unrestful slumber to find it razed and burned to the ground with a single drow male sitting staring into the distance. We searched the village while Mok talked to the drow and found none else left alive. Mok managed to get the drow to talk to him and he told him the village was attacked by some foul creatures called Tuloks. He told Mok they took the love of his life and he vowed to kill them all and thus he waits for their return to the village. He also mistook Pimfire for a Kinder, like many others have, and even gave him a Hoopak and tells us he has seen Vernon Here but his body was not with the dead in the village so he either escaped or was captured. After bidding our farewells to the drow fellow we took off following the supposed tracks of Vernon Condor. We where once again met with the forest as our adversary this time blocking the path with a bramble wall that Mok makes short work of with his huge Battleaxe. as we cross throught the freshly trimmed hedge we hear a loud cry in the clearing ahead. We rush forward to find a Chimera trapped in a quicksand pit. Knowing it must be a prisoner here I must help it so i dimensional Hop onto the poor beasts back and hop it back out of the quick sand. It than happily casts a spell of tongues and thanks me for rescuing it but wonders why we would. We of course explain we are all in this together so why wouldnt we and the Chimera than introduces its 3 heads and gives me a wonderfully warm cloak made from its fur. It tells us that it was hunting tuloks due to them slaying the Chimera’s mate. It than tells us of how the tree leaves of certain trees point towards the dragon cave and that there is a bigger settlement nearby that we should go to after we find Condor. I heal our new friend before we follow the tracks of Condor once more. It isnt long before we find him being dragged deeper into the woods by the vines of the forest. Mok and Morrin rush forward unable to be grabbed by the vines and free Condor who thanks us before fainting. I heal him to bring him back to consciousness. We decide to try to rest again and are plagued by the same dreams as before but Vernon Condor sleeps deeply as we normally would so we decide to carry him t. He is a village elder here and o the settlement while he slept. As we arrive at this much more robust settlement we are greeted telepathically by a Mind Flayer named Me-low who offers us a place to rest and tells us that he does not know of a way out of this prison. He directs us to the tavern to rest where Mok and Morrin spot the Drow from the other village’s wife Anna and there child. Since we are waiting for Condor to awaken we decide to go and tell the drow the good news. Our trip there and back with him was actually uneventful and went off without a hitch. We returned to the larger settlement to find that they were going to have a large meeting about a way out. As the meeting came to order they offered us a challenge to prove our dedication to which Omega accepted before even knowing what it was for. The challenge was to read and extremely difficult poem in a certain amount of time. To everyone’s amazement Omega did so with only one stutter through out i couldnt even begin to believe he would do it but he proved us all wrong. After the klysedra was completed Me-low told us the Ancient would have the answer to what we were looking for in the form of a spell he was developing. He would need the name of the red Dragon to complete the spell but he would know how to get it if anyone would. We traveled back to his shack but this time when we entered it was a large and spacious palace inside. The Ancient immediately demanded the name of the dragon from us saying that we know what it is. We than realised that we had been told the name earlier by the diviners of Ravensbluff who tried to divine the location of Vernon Condor. They couldnt find him but they kept hearing a name and knew it was important. We were unable to remember the name so Mok used the last of the powerful ability memory recall to recall the conversation in which we heard it. The name they had told us was Gernosishstrad. Once we spoke the name the Ancient waved his hand and a feast appeared before us in which we all heartily ate as he explained his history with this realm and how we would defeat the Dragon. As his telling of our plan came to an end we heard one of the Ancient’s defenses go off killing a rat outside. The Ancient informed us that those are what Gernosishstrad uses to gather information so we must move now to the final battle. We of course set off immediately to the Dragons cave the Ancient setting an other worldly pace for us to keep up with. He tells us we must kill his minions while he will deal with the dragon. We than enter the lava filled cave of the dragon to find Gernosishstrad surrounded by fire elementals in a pool of lava. I launched a large Blade Barrier into the Fray hitting all of our enemies even the dragon who to my dismay breathes fire on me killing me instantly so i dont remember what happened after that besides seeing the Golden Lady’s beautiful Visage pulling me towards the light. I awoke in the Cleric Circles inner sanctum having been revived from my unpleasant and nearly eternal slumber. The rest of the menagerie told me that Mok destroyed the rest of the elementals immediately and the Ancient cast his spell sealing the dragon away in a red ruby. We than were brought back to Ravens Bluff as the Prison collapsed in on itself The ancient came out with us and teleported away once he thanked us for our help and told us everyone should now return to there own realms before the prison is destroyed. The Menagerie was Congratulated for a job well done. And my companions were nice enough to forgo the reward to have me brought back, Though i wouldn’t have minded the extra money either… But i am so grateful to be traveling with such a gold hearted bunch if only you could be here to see where i have ended up Father…

Rewards

5600 XP
5000g reward that we refuse in lieu of having the Cleric Circle Revive Clearice.
Potion of Cure Moderate Wounds – everyone, from the Ancient
Cloak of Warmth – (Clearice) given to for saving the Chimera

Morrin went up a knightly rank

Omega switches to the Harbour Patrol as this adventure allowed such in reward. May have him use Dolly’s Anger to help patrol the harbour in exchange for its upkeep cost and keeps the vessel close to home in case we need it.

A meeting with Maskin Farthing of the Farthing Custom & Trade house one morning revealed that his daughter Briella had gone missing. She apparently left around 8 years ago with a priest of Waukeen named Devlin in search of an ancient artifact called the Sacred Heart of the Beast. This artifact would allow them to tame an island of strange creatures that they had stumbled upon in the hopes of opening up a thriving tourism trade by making large animals safe for visitors to come and be around. Maskin tells us that Briella is a very powerful practitioner of magic and while she’s been gone they’ve been in constant contact via a two way scrying mirror but about 2 weeks ago the mirror went black and they haven’t been able to get in contact. His daughter created a powerful gateway on the ocean that leads to this mysterious island but has kept it secret even from him until recently which he believes he’s now found. He would like us to go in search of his daughter and return her. His last communication with Briella involved someone named Prince Faruq of Calimport coming to visit the island and possibly invest.

After examining the mirror and talking to one of Maskin’s mages on the subject it’s concluded that the other mirror Briella’s must be broken or somehow disenchanted. I learn more about this Sacred Heart of the beast from the temple of Sune who tell it’s a mistake of Sune herself created when she was new in an effort to allow her followers to enjoy the beauty of nature by creating an area in which no animal could harm another. It was only after they realized how dangerous this could be on an eco-system and implore us not to return it and if possible destroy it.

The following day we get on board the Mares Milk a vessel of Maskin’s which is to take us to the island via way of the magical gate somewhere a couple days travel on the ocean. To our delight we find Clampett our chef from Dolly’s Anger to have hired himself out for this voyage. Introducing myself to Captain Dara Nando I find myself stunned by her beauty and fierceness. It is rare to find a woman on board any vessel let alone captaining one, which tells of how tough she must be to keep her crew in line.

I spend the next couple of days entertaining the crew and trying to charm the lovely Dara. When we finally pass through the nearly invisible magical gateway we see an island in the distance and at that moment we strike a large log floating in the ocean. Before it can rip the vessel apart Captain Dara gets the crew to slow and then halt her ship. She asks us if we can deal with clearing the log from in front which Omega, Clearice and myself set too leaping into the waters. Once there I clearly see the log to be the mast of a sunken vessel and drop towards the ship both to investigate it and search for treasure. Omega pulls out his sword and starts to hack away at the mast to try and free the Mares Milk from it. Clearice follows me down probably to keep an eye on me I suspect.

Inside the sunken ship we find a chest full of Calimshite coins and magical items on what we assume was the captain or owner of the vessel which is called the Reaver. Clearice manages to float the chest of coins up to the Mares Milk on a magical disk. Once topside again we inform Captain Dara of our findings who claims half the chest for her crew and seems impressed with my ability to hold my breath for over an hour and with a wink suggests I visit her later.

It was at this point the old superstition of tossing a coin overboard before a voyage comes to mind and realizing our error everyone tosses in a couple coins in the hopes that whatever creature could tear apart the Reaver doesn’t do so to the Mares Milk. As we approach the island we clearly see the docks to be nearly destroyed but useable while 2 more sunken ships lay in the bottom of the ocean next to the docks. Managing to skillful maneuver her vessel to the docks Captain Dara bids us good luck as we head out to investigate the island.

We come upon a camp that is set up to be a visitor center area for when the place gets opened to tourists. The place is a mess as several buildings appeared burnt while another is crushed by a fallen tree. We enter the main building some sort of greeting center to find the kitchen was used recently perhaps a few days ago according to Xavier while Clearice examines blood stains on the wall and finds some green flakey substance on the main door. Another building we examine must have been the temple set up to Waukeen. Upstairs is where we find Devlin who apparently committed suicide. Reading through his journal it’s apparent a druid named Baerwald was upset over their bringing the Sacred Heart of the beast gemstone to the island and interrupting nature in the process. It’s noted that Briella and two others traveled to check on the stone to make sure it’s safe guards are in place after some dinosaurs somehow managed to overcome the peaceful effect and attacked the camp!

The log revealed that a storm sunk both vessels and possibly lead to a tree falling on the building housing the mirror, which destroyed the mirror, or it was the druid who made the tree fall they weren’t certain. With Prince Faruq never showing hope fled, as things got even worse since someone was bitten by one of the dinosaurs and seemed to become infected with something that spread to others in camp. Devlin was forced to kill and burnt their bodies and with no hope of communication with anyone off the island and Briella and the others missing and not returning from the volcano housing the artifact Devlin committed suicide by hanging himself. Our inspection of Devlin revealed some green infection in his spine meaning he himself was somehow infected.

After a brief glance around we found the barracks where Devlin had killed and burned the bodies of the rest of the camp. Avoiding contact with the bodies we started to leave only to encounter a very large Triceratops that must have been 5 times larger then any we’d ever seen! Omega offered him some fish from a barrel he found in the kitchen of the visitor center and surprisingly it seemed to enjoy them going so far as to shove it’s face deep into the barrel to get every last morsel. Omega wanted to keep it for another pet or mount but we pointed out that a creature which is longer then the ship wouldn’t fit obviously.

Suddenly remembering a conversation with Maskin Farthing that Captain Dara was under orders to retrieve some dinosaurs we rushed back to her ship to try and stop them before they became infected by whatever wiped out the camp. Clearice blurted everything out to the captain as she along with half her crew was dragging 2 dinosaurs towards the ship. The crew fearing disease nearly rioted right there on the docks but Clearice promised to examine each one and while that was going Omega was getting the crew drunk as I told silly jokes and stories. Fortunately no one on board had any signs of the green infection.

We then headed back to the camp where I picked up the shards of the mirror thinking Maskin may want these in case he can repair it using magic to reenable the 2 way scrying mirror set. Then we set out towards the volcano. During our trek through we encounter a massive T-Rex covered in green slime. All our efforts to hurt it seemed futile even Clearice’s Blade Barrier didn’t bother it despite shearing off half it’s face! As soon as we cut it the slime seemed to repair the cuts. Finally remembering fire to be useful against the infection Clearice burnt the dinosaur and made it flee in terror but not before Omega was covered head to toe in green goo!

We built a fire and bade him to stand in it but while some of the slime seemed to get burnt off not all of it and finally we were forced to use his sword and scrape the rest off his body. Once done we pushed on until we reached the base of the volcano where we found what appeared to be a dried up water bed leading straight to the top and at the bottom a tunnel recently dug going deep into the heart of the volcano. Following directions from Devlin’s journal we head to the top of the volcano where the Sacred Heart of the Beast was supposed to be.

As we crest a ridge we see inside the volcano’s mouth 6 magma elementals surrounding Briella and an old druid we assume to be Baerwald. It’s clear Briella is undertaking some magical ritual as strands of the weave itself can be seen in her hands as she is somehow undoing something around a large red gemstone that is imbedded in the volcano’s crusted surface.

Omega shouts out asking if they need any help. The magma elementals and Baerwald approach him while the rest of us stay hidden. Finally we all go down as Clearice informs the druid that we are hear to rescues Briella and see the Relic destroyed as well and intend no harm. Briella finally stops what she is doing and comes over, she claims that the druid has shown her the errors of her ways and she is going to destroy the gem but will die in the attempt and accepts that as penance for ever bringing the stone to the island in the first place. I try and talk her out of it by seeing if using a favor from Waukeen would somehow help but according to Clearice who communed with her god they are unable to interfere with the relic as it’s planar locked to the prime material plane.

Xavier then starts to walk towards the sacred heart of the beast all the while talking about how much good Briella can now do in the world with her magical powers she is able to help more than he ever could and as they reach near the stone offers to take her place in removing it and thereby sacrificing himself. Baerwald wants him to make sure he has the blessings of his goddess Tymora and hands him a commune scroll which he reads and enters a trance. We see a coin flip in the air as suddenly he comes out of the trance and nods his head that everything will be okay. Satisfied Baerwald agrees to it and Briella releases the last of the safe guards and with a wave teleports the rest of us to safety on the Mares Milk. Just as Captain Dara sets sail from the island, a loud explosion is visible as the volcano erupts.

With great sadness in my heart for the loss of a friend, I found it hard to continue the romance with Captain Dara that had so quickly blossomed in just a few days on the way to this island. Captain Dara seemed to understand as we spent what free time she had talking together quietly about the future and should our paths ever cross again we agreed we would see where our hearts would take us. For now, we respect each other’s life choice. Her choice to sail the ocean in search of fame, fortune and adventure. Mine to defend the city, tell tales of adventure borne out by others and raise my daughter.

Upon returning to Raven’s Bluff we were greeted by a strange and welcome sight as standing on the docks was Xavier! Somehow restored by Baerwald and his god since what he did was a noble self sacrifice he didn’t deserve to die. It came at a cost it seems as Xavier has holes in his memory regarding his training but he’s gained a sexy new tattoo. Shadow as well seems smaller then I remember even.

Maskin is thrilled that Briella is home safe and sound and offers us the reward as promised. I hand over the shards to the mirror. I bring the signet ring of Prince Faruq that we found in the sunken ship to the embassy of Calimshan where they are grateful for its return and let us keep the scimitar we recovered in gratitude. After words I travel to the temple of Sune and spend a full day recounting in vivid detail everything that happened with the Sacred Heart of the Beast and how it was destroyed while acolytes record my words for their personal records. Xavier even decides to join me down at Valerie’s Orphanage where he decides to take up the position of cook!

Rewards
6250XP for all but Xavier who got some readjusting after self-sacrifice
2000g each reward
One Chiv point each
One Honor to Xavier for sacrificing himself but ANDY will decide
Treasure chest of Calimport coins = 5000g / 4 which is 1000g each + 1000g to party treasury
Broken Mirror scrying shards (in case they want to repair it gave back to them)

Monocle of Fine Appraisals: This monocle adds a +2 bonus to all appraising proficiency checks made by the wearer, and instantly reveals fake gems or counterfeit art. The wearer must have the appraising proficiency in order to gain these benefits from the monocle. Further, PCs with the forgery proficiency may employ the monocle to unerringly identify forged documents. This monocle does not benefit those without the required proficiencies, as those people do not know what they are looking for. (Clearice)

Golden Scimitar of the Seven Families: This beautifully forged blade, an heirloom of the family of Prince Faruq of Calimport, is fashioned from purest gold, magically hardened to withstand even the strongest blow (saves as “hard metal,” +4). It functions as a +3 scimitar for rogues, and as a +2 scimitar for all other classes.
Further, the blade may be employed to quell any sandstorm, magical or mundane, a process that takes one round and expends a single charge. It also may be used to avoid any single attack from an Efreet, Dao, marid, djinn or lesser genie. This use is instantaneous, and expends two charges. The blade contains four charges.
(Xavier takes this)

Signet Ring of Prince Faruq: This gold ring, emblazoned with the personal seal of Prince Faruq of Calimport (a petty noble), acts exactly like a ring of protection +1
(I offer to bring it to a diplomat of Calimshan and they are grateful for the return of this and knowledge of Prince Faruq’s demise and let us keep the scimitar in thanks)

Mark of the Hierophant: The owner of this certificate chose to make the ultimate sacrifice to protect the balance of Forgotten Island. As a reward, the PC has been reincarnated by Baerwald, Hierophant of Silvanus. (Xavier)

With a summons to meet with Lord Chancellor Arvin Kothonos so began our day into what would end up being a disastrous event that has led to a disadvantageous treaty with the Sembians to supply our fair city with lumber at a costly rate.

Lord Chancellor Arvin told us of a logging company called the Old Growth Clearing Company which was hired to supply the city with timber in it’s rebuilding after the war and no recently shipments and communication have stopped completely. No one has heard anything in the past 2 weeks from them. He asked us to go investigate their camp and see what the problem is and if possible to resolve it otherwise in 4 days time he would enter into negotiations with some ambassadors of Sembia for trading rights on timber and end up costing the city far more money than needed.

Along the way to the logging camp we encounter a farmer screaming for help and rush to his farm’s aid where several Ankhegs are terrorizing them. We vanquish them easily and even manage to restore life to Brian Robbinton the farmer who requested our aid when he was mortally wounded in the fight. Several of his sheep were slaughtered before we could help and knowing the vital importance of those who work the land outside the city walls I offered to cover the cost of those sheep. As thanks he invited us to lunch and even provided me with a gift in the form of a couple magical darts. He also tells us of a druid and sacred grove that are in the forest.

We had to hurry on our way after lunch to make the logging camp before nightfall and as we arrived we found the entire camp it seems slaughtered by some sort of toxic gas or acid attack judging by the burns on the bodies. Searching the camp we find a log book that details how the local druid of the grove harassed the loggers and wanted them gone for violating the forest. There was even mention of sights of a dragon in the area. Figuring our best course of action was to find the druid we followed directions in the book to the heart of the sacred grove.

Upon arrival at the grove we found the land dead with all the trees and plant life appearing poisoned and lifeless. The druid one Cypress Thornguard tells us the land itself is cursed following an attack during the war and he’s been trying to remove the curse. It seems the druid was aware of a dragon in the forest and asked the dragon for aid in scaring the loggers but instead must have decided to slaughter them. All that is except for Kraven Deerg the owner and leader of the logging camp whom it’s taken for torture. We are unable to really meet eye to eye with Cypress and leave only to return the next morning and strike a deal to send aid up to help remove the curse by sending clerics of Chauntea to his aid. In exchange he takes us to see the Green dragon. I argued earlier that morning we should kill the dragon but all we could come to agreement was that we’d try and save Kraven since he didn’t deserve to be tortured by such an evil creature for simply trespassing on a sacred grove of trees.

Lead down into a hidden tunnel we travel until we reach a rock doorway. There Cypress asks us to wait while he speaks with the dragon to gain permission to negotiate. After awhile he comes back and requests us to leave all our weapons outside which we agree to. Once inside we are face to face with a very old large green dragon calling herself Grislena.

A bargain is struck to release Kraven in exchange for several magical items we carry. We try and strike another bargain to prevent further bloodshed should loggers return but the dragon poised an impossible scenario which after review there was no correct answer to and so does not agree to further hostilities should anyone else enter the forest.

We return back to Raven’s Bluff with Kraven and hand him over to the city for trial as he violated an ancient treaty to not disturb the sacred grove of Chauntea as well to find out if he’s accountable for actions leading to the death of nearly 50 men and women. Lord Chancellor Arvin Kothonos was not pleased we were unable to deal with the dragon and upset that we’d bring Kraven back but not also Cypress who clearly was in league with an evil dragon. We agree to return and take him into custody and try and clear the dragon out but it’s too late and he must negotiate a deal with the Sembians for timber.

Upon returning to the grove with several priests of Chauntea Cypress is arrested and the grove is restored as the curse is lifted. The dragon seems to have fled the forest as we cannot find any sign of it in the lair.

We later learn that the courts deemed Kraven and Cypress crimes to be decided by the cleric circle. Kraven is let off since 2 weeks of torture by a green dragon is deemed punishment enough but his company must for the next year plant 2 trees instead of 1 for each tree they remove. Cypress however is another matter and the mere fact he’d consort and ask the aid of such an evil creature as a green dragon showing no remorse for the lives of the 50 dead loggers lost as a result is sentenced to life as a mass murdered in the Golden Ball prison. He is also excommunicated from the church of Chauntea.

Rewards
3500 XP

Scimitar inside Ankheg “Evergreen.” Scimitar of haste +2, +3 for druids and rangers- This scimitar is +2, but in the hands of druid or ranger, it is +3. When wielded by a druid or ranger, the blade dimly glows an olive green (light, 20’ radius) and allows the wielder to cast haste upon himself or herself. The haste effect lasts one turn and consumes one charge. The scimitar has five charges remaining, and once used the scimitar becomes a scimitar +1. Value: 10,000 g.p. (Party Treasury)

3 Darts of Mistletoe Darts that do 1d2 poison damage + up to max 2 strength damage + strike as brilliant energy and ignore all armor and protection. (Pimfire)

Listen close to a tale of a creature most foul! A creature who can suck the life force right from you much like the powerful undead but instead can also take your face and make it it’s own! This creature did terrorize our very city streets walking amongst us without our knowledge killing for sport and assuming the guise of your neighbor and even yours truly!

We dined with Glora Varro at the Pheasant Roasted Inn where she asked us to protect her later that evening at her abode while she attempted to discover her missing cousin Gaius Varro during a powerful spell. Suddenly we heard a cry from Lord Alvin Carstairs who came rushing by the Inn claiming someone robbed him! We the midnight menagerie rushed to the scene of the crime and along with the city watch were unable to find a single clue to verify the miscreant, an obvious sign it was no doubt perpetrated by the Kind of Thieves himself Markus! For its known, he never leaves a sign or clue when he strikes. He made off with a valuable family heirloom.

On our way out of Lord Alvin’s estate we chanced upon a man named Cliven who doubled over in pain suddenly. We rushed to his aid and saw to it he received treatment at the temple of Lathander since we did not seem to be able to heal whatever ails him. That done we headed back to the Pheasant Roasted Inn a wonderful established with amazing dishes that will tantalize your taste buds and make you feel like a noble. I highly recommend it.

It was there that while sitting with the Lady Glora Varro once more to finish our conversation and dinner that we told her of our assumption as to whom was involved in the theft when she pointed out that Markus was sitting at the bar the entire time! Omega approached him to question him regarding the theft. Meanwhile I began to suspect that Cliven may have been the one to steal the heirloom as swallowing such a large piece of jewelry would certainly cause pain that couldn’t be magically healed by our Clearice. I approached Omega and Markus and listened in for a moment before stepping up and I attempted to hire Markus on behalf to retrieve the item from Cliven if possible since we were presently engaged to assist Glora that evening but was turned down. Markus did not seem to care if someone tread upon his reputation or not.

Once we left Glora with promises to meet at her home in an hours time I told Mok and the rest of the group regarding my suspicions but realizing we all couldn’t make it to the temple district and back in time he agreed to fly there and see if Cliven was indeed the thief. The rest of us headed to Lady Glora’s mansion. While at the temple of Lathander Mok informed the priest attending Cliven regarding our hunch and asked to speak with someone who could speak with the gods on our behalf to verify if we were correct. I am told the High Priest himself performed such a task but the Gods revealed that Cliven was indeed innocent regarding the theft of Lord Alvin Carstairs property.

At Lady Glora Varro’s mansion we were brought into a special chamber used for her magical experiments and protection. Our task was to guard her in case something came through her spell. Unfortunately Mok had not managed to make it back before she began casting and during the spell Morrin heard a loud noise and shut the door to the room sealing us in. The spell failed when moments later Mok crashed through the door with a maid in tow. Mok had seen someone leap out of a second story window and flee as he approached her mansion. Rushing to investigate sure enough a glass statue was broken and a powerful magical artifact was taken. Other than a quick glimpse by Mok of a figure dressed in black no more could be found and our suspicion that Markus may indeed be behind things was growing. The maid had come to tell the Lady she had seen Gaius Varro down on the docks of Raven’s Bluff earlier that day and having worked for him for several years she was sure he would have recognized her but he instead fled as she approached.

With nothing to go on to find Markus or whomever was behind the recent string of burglaries we headed towards the docks to see if we could find Gaius ourselves. Just minutes after leaving Morrin doubles over in pain similar to that of Cliven. Omega picks him up and we change direction towards the temple district unable to do much else for Morrin. Several minutes go by before like Cliven it seems the pain has passed and we change direction again back to the docks once Morrin is able to walk on his own.

It was there along the way we passed the Pleasure Palace where several woman were talking to the city watch regarding the assault and murder of a co-worker. Upon seeing me, they accused me of being the one to have done the foul deed! I assure you I did no so such thing and even told the women and city watch it was not me. I gave the city watch my where about for the past week and asked my friends to get those down at the Orphanage where I had been spending my days to come testify on my behalf. I then went with the city watch and was summarily put through our justice system which I must say is both swift and efficient.

The group figured to rush to the docks and check the Rusty Nail area for Gaius first before heading over to Crow’s End to get my alibi. While there they get confirmation from others who remember seeing Gaius around but no one could remember where he went. Realizing that Lady Glora must be informed of Gaius return they swiftly made their way back to her mansion but upon entering her area of town saw a flash of light from the 2nd story of the Thavian Embassy. They approached the guards and told them what they saw who ran inside to investigate. Left outside the watched as a man in black leapt from a 2nd floor window onto the grounds and walk over to them. It was Markus!

Markus told them of how he grew up in Crow’s End and that a Red Wizard of Thay was responsible for enslaving his parents and that he’s vowed vengeance on the one responsible named Yosaf or some such. He tells them that this wizard was put in charge of a magical Orb and should it go missing he’d be held responsible and most likely executed or put in prison. With that in mind Markus and his Sister hatched a plan where his sister got a job as a maid in the Embassy to spy but was caught and he believes is now dead. The Orb was recalled to Thay and would be leaving soon on it’s journey so he broke in but there were too many guards. He told them he wanted to eat with them at the Shark Fin Tavern. He then asks them to help him sneak back into the Embassy but the Midnight Menagerie refused. Mok believing Markus to have stolen from both Lord Carstair and Lady Varro asks for the items back but Markus claimed to have never stolen those things.

That being done the group headed back to Lady Varro’s to inform her of their findings at the dock. Once there she attempts the spell again and this time Gaius appears as she disappears in a strange dark void of magical energy. Gaius explains that he’s trapped in a realm of negative energy and the creatures there are capable of taking the appearance of their prey and victims! That the only way to free him is to find one such creature which was set loose when he went missing as they must have “changed places” and to do so recast this spell but somewhere down near the docks. As he says this the spell ends and Lady Varro reappears and Gaius disappears. Lady Varro claimed to have heard everything and further she knows where the spell needs to be cast. None other then the 2nd floor of the Thavian Embassy. She tells them she will inquire as to if they can gain access through political channels while the Menagerie needs to track down this evil entity and capture it.

At a dead road the gang come visit me in jail and during that visit Markus walks into jail claiming to have seen me down at the docks killing a person. The Guards not caring or believing Markus refuse to let me go since they are certain I killed that woman at the Pleasure Palace and Markus is hardly a creditable source. They are told no matter it would be until the morning before I could get released even with a proper alibi. The gang follows Markus directions and head down to the docks. Once there Clearice takes flight and with the help of a True Sight spell searches the area around the Rusty Nail. A few blocks away she spots the creature in an alley appearing to be sleeping. Not wanting to take the chance she casts a spell of bright light to alert the others who come rushing down the streets. Once there they manage to subdue the creature and tie it up but not before it sucks some energy from Clearice and Mok even going so far as to take on Mok’s appearance during the struggle.

The next morning they bring Ariel from the orphanage to the jail who verifies my whereabouts as an alibi and I am released from custody. We then visit Lady Varro to learn that political channels have failed and we instead must break into the Embassy if we want to free Lord Gaius. We decide that Markus is our best prospect and meet with him at Sharky’s Tavern where he agrees to help us if we help him while at the Embassy. After getting Lady Varro to agree to pay for the cost of this operation we manage to sneak in where Markus gets the Orb he sought and in return he hands Mok the items he did indeed steal from Carstair and Varro claiming they were needed for him to break into the Embassy. The Lady Varro casts her spell transporting the negative energy creature back to its realm and returning the real Gaius to our fair city.

With that, my friends I hope the next time you see someone whom you have not seen in years because you thought they have gone missing or had died that you notify the city watch immediately. It may just be another such creature has found its way into our city, our realm, and is preying upon its fair citizens.

Rewards

10,000 Gold from Lady Varro = 1,000 gold each (6 players) –3400 odd gold to party treasury – 580 odd on divination at temple of Lathander
A bag of 30 = 100g Sapphires from Lord Varro (party treasury)
We return the ring of X-Ray vision to Lady Varro and the Brooch to Lord Carstairs that was stolen by Markus
2750 XP (half for Clearice and Xavier for missing portion of the evening)

Won’t someone think of the children! the cry of the day that rang out amongst the city’s crowd as we wandered the city looking for something to be doing when suddenly amongst the crowd we saw Ariel Halfwind crying and babbling about children being taken from the orphanage in Crow’s End. We calmed her down at least enough to get some account of what happened and look over a ransom note given to her by the captors. Agreeing to help we followed her back to the orphanage where she went to collect the gem stones for the ransom. We spoke with Desiree one of the helpers at the orphanage regarding any potential suspects but came up empty.

Once Ariel came down with everything packed we followed along with Timmy’s little dog whom we thought might be able to help us track down his owner or at least help us locate the children if he could catch a scent of Timmy along the way. We had to travel immediately to Burrowhome to make sure the ransom drop went as planned but about half way to Burrowhome Timmy’s dog did indeed pick up a scent and headed off the roadway down a small side trail. We followed in hopes he would lead us to the missing children.

We were wrong or I should say Timmy’s dog was wrong and a while later we found ourselves surrounded by Undead hill giants. They jumped out of the trees and bushes slamming their clubs down on top of us. Clearice managed to call upon her holy powers and sent them running while Mok fired off a blast in their wake and quickly put the fire out before the forest could catch fire and burn down around us.

Realizing he must have just smelt the rotting corpses and with darkness, descending and time running out we headed back to the main road to camp out and continue in the morning. Maybe it was the dark trees and our encounter with the Undead but I remember having terrible dreams that night and felt tired despite having a full night sleep and it seemed so did everyone else. We pushed on toward Burrowhome only as we left the forest and the road continued into a clearing we could see a large tree with several cages and what appeared to be 4 different people hanging in them. Rushing to see if they were children both Mok and Timmy’s dog charged into the meadow and tripping a wire we watched in horror as the cages swung down from the tree into a wall made of Flesh, Blood and Bones! Which sprung up behind and in the path of the cages.

As Mok and Morrin charged, the wall to try to help the people 3 of the 4 pulled into it while Morrin greased up one as Mok grabbed and pulled him away from wall. Many arms came out wielding swords from the wall swinging at all who tried to get close to rescue the others sucked in while different faces and mouths appeared uttering arcane words and spitting rocks all over the place. Tired of the game of trying to get through and realizing nothing could survive inside something so monstrous Clearice unleashed a blade barrier along the top section of the wall shredding it in moments to reveal nothing but gore all over the place.

Grateful for the rescue Sargent Kenton told us his tale of how he was taken capture but revealed that Ariel herself was among those he was taken captive with or at least he remembers seeing her amongst the rest of the prisoners. Ariel denied being captured and had no memory of what Kenton spoke. A quick examination showed the necklace she wore to be magical and not being able to remember ever owning it we convinced her to remove it. As she did it crumbled to dust and her memory of being kidnapped, the children being taken, asking us for help and the voyage here seemed to disappear completely. Confused as to everything going on we tried to calm her as screams rung out from a cave on the far side of the clearing we stood. Remembering seeing a woman standing their just as Mok charged into the field Omega took of running fearing the children to be in danger.

The rest of us rushed to keep up as we entered the cave we were confronted by the woman who told us she was tired of our meddling and accused us of killing her once years ago (something none of us remember ever being involved in) she told us there were a series of traps and riddles we had to pass to save the children, fail and they would die then she fled. Realizing the magical symbols on the ground to be some mystical trap Mok carefully read an inscription revealing a riddle to which I realized the answer was Amaunter, we spoke the name as we crossed the line safely. The second riddle had a serpent waiting for us which Omega sliced the moment it appeared as Mok revealed the answer to be Ibrandul followed by the third riddle answer to be Shar.

Thinking ourselves near the end, we were dismayed to find a room with 4 boxes on a table. The woman’s voice rang out that inside one of the boxes we’d find something to help with our next obstacles but the other 3 were trapped. We used an unseen servant to examine each finding the same set of vials in all boxes with no traps. Strange but we heard a child scream out again and quickly drank a vial and rushed forward as ran down the hallway nothing happened so we though ourselves lucky in choice only to find later that all the boxes contained poison.

Inside a room at the end of the hall we found the mysterious woman and a bunch of undead. Some Hill Giants like the woods along with some bandaged monsters and weird Smokey shadow creatures. The woman opens a box to dispel out various preparation magic’s and Mok unleashed a fireball in the room trying to avoid the children around the edges of the room but became both horrified and angry to realize yet again he’s been duped as his blast caused several undead to crumble so too did it reveal the children to be held between us and the woman under invisibility. Outlined now by the licking flames several of the kids collapsed to the ground. Laughing over our foolishness both in drinking poison and falling for her illusion of the children she unleashed some magic’s of her own but was quickly defeated along with the undead. Those shadow creatures disappeared during the fight and Mok has mentioned something about being thrown from his body into the Astral but managing to summon the will to pull himself back into his body and regain control. We suspect those shadow creatures of being the cause but we will have to do some research on the subject to be sure.

During the fighting Clearice managed to stabilize the wounded children but as we defeated her they disappeared supposedly returned to the orphanage either that or yet again another illusion. The voice of the woman rang out saying something like “some of you survived and I will no longer tolerate interference from Raven’s Bluff and she can control anyone with some power she has. Everyone was an illusion set up, as it is a shame to waste such good tools. She threatens to make anyone suffer if they interfere in the future.” Realizing she was able to control people using those necklaces I think it’s a good idea we spread their likeness around the city with warning to all if they see one on someone. That being said she was kind enough to leave us a few with their powers of control drained both Mok and Clearice have one now worn around their necks for me to sketch copies of and spread amongst the powerful and city leaders.

Grateful for the return of the children Ariel offered us a reward but we could never take from an orphanage and instead refused and I even gave her some of my own money to help run things, as did some of the others of our group. I have even spent the past few days down there entertaining the children and helping with chores around the place. I even introduced my daughter Amuka to the other children in hopes she will make some friends. It feels good to spend time once again here in Crow’s End.

Rewards

Bracers +3 (Omega)
8 green garnets that have magic missiles (9) in them (5 each) – Smash (standard), Place in eye (free action) – Everyone but Mok took 2 I believe
A vacuous grimoire (probably just outright destroy as most likely evil)
We did not take the money from Ariel and I gave her 500 gold.
5 Necklaces (bonus to save against undead abilities 3 times a week) – Mok and Clearice only one who took the other 3 turned to dust when we thought about selling
4700 XP each

After our latest escapade against those fire giants and their stronghold, we sought out the remainder of the area around Lower Sarbreen and in a large cavern around the same size as that of Lower Sarbreen itself we found an underground lake home to a mini Eco-system of various monsters such as goblins, trolls and even a hydra. While for the most part it seems the area is considered sacred for it’s source of fresh water a rarity in the Underdark some creatures use it as a hunting ground. We watched in the distance as a Cave Fisher grabbed one of the goblins and pull him up to become his dinner giving the impression that only the animalistic creatures will hunt in the area of fresh water while the sentient beings fear and respect each other enough to avoid conflict over life giving water.

We were wrong to think that. As we scouted the chamber around the lake we encounter a sentient species one which is often spoken of with fear, loathing and intense hatred. A drow party ambushed us on the shores of the lake with a cunning blast of magic they separated our party by turning the rock we walked upon to mud and placing a blade barrier between Omega and the rest of the group. Then from the cavern ceiling descended a group of fighters on Omega, the rest of us had to deal with archers from behind. Mok took off running towards the lake as he noticed 3 drow heads above the waterline thinking those to be the persons responsible for the barrier. Morrin managed to put up a series of stinking clouds and fog walls slowly blocking off the archers view of us as we watched helpless nearly while 4 drow fighters and a female fighter who could also use magic knocked Omega unconscious. Desperate to help I managed to kill a fighter and the female with my bow and arrows while Clearice braved the stinking clouds to rescue Omega and bring him to our side of the blade barrier. Mok’s battle with those in the water was brilliant as he froze the water they swam in and trapping them with heads sticking out above the ice. Once they were frozen in place Mok then unleashed a flurry of magical power forcing them to break out of the ice and flee. Once Clearice got Omega back to our side of the barrier Morrin dropped another stinking cloud down on those fighters blocking all sight of the drow.

Suddenly the area went quiet as we looked around there was no drow to be seen as the clouds and barriers faded even the 2 bodies I had killed were gone. Finishing our inspection we returned to Raven’s Deep and reported back to Lord Blacktree regarding our findings with particular interest focused on the fire giants stronghold and it’s gateway to the elemental plane of fire and the possibility of drow in the vicinity being of particular note.

With the scouting mission complete we are now on our way back home, I have sent this and the other letters I’ve written on ahead since we need a brief rest before returning to the surface and then once back we have business with the temples and seeing to the destruction of a few items before we return to our Keep. I hope these letters find you well and you are enjoying your new home.

Rewards
XP total 23225
Refer to previous parts of this adventure for the rest of items gained throughout the trip

Notes:
Sold the Giants leaders sword and split the gold and gained diamond dust for party treasury
We decided Curtain of Silence kept and used during adventures to provide resting with privacy
Book of Necromancy/Dragon we were to see destroyed at temple
Dust of the dragon bones we were to see destroyed at temple to prevent further attempts to raise it

We have prevailed over the Fire Giants and their stronghold. We have even freed several captives we have discovered inside their dungeons including a very special prisoner of theirs. Time will tell if this has any consequences in the future but for now, we are all safe with a long way to go yet exploring more of the perpetual night filled caverns of the Underdark. Below is a detailed description I’ve put together of the encounter. It is my hopes that you memorize this and later repeat it back to me for that is in essence a large part of becoming a storyteller like your father. Practice memorizing what you hear and read.

Mok and Clearice flew across the lake of lava and just as they got within throwing range of the Giants rocks I teleported myself, Morrin and Omega to the top of the forts walls. Upon materializing Morrin transformed into a four armed gargoyle while Omega drank a potion to transform into a raging dinosaur. With brutal efficiency, the two of them dropped the 2 giants on this side of the wall before Mok and Clearice could join us. As they did so, the other two visible giants on the far side of the gate walls jumped down and fled across the courtyard.

This courtyard was filled with strange dogs, hellhounds, and two great pillars of fire stood before the keeps doorway with a row of statues lining the outside of the keep itself. Once Mok joined us, he proceeded to unleash blast after frosty blast towards the fleeing giants putting those other two down before they could retreat to safety inside as those dogs did. While this was going on Clearice managed to save the tortured and dying human we saw get flung over the walls and pulled back up earlier. Just before the doors closed sealing us out 2 large fire elementals stepped forth from the pillars and fled inside with a puff the pillars had gone out disappearing with the flight of those raging infernos.

Leaping from the battlement Omega charged towards the gates while the rest of us flew or were carried down as we watched Omegasaur ram into the door and burst it to pieces! Morrin summoned a Rhino who proceeded to try and bash the other door inwards. I guess reports of a Rhino on the docks might have been true at this point. Fearing for his safety Clearice left the human outside and proceeded to follow the rest of us inwards. I should note the Rhino eventually did succeed at bashing in the remaining door but by then we had already entered.

Inside the fort was a large entrance chamber with the hellhounds having just ran inside being closest preventing Omegasaur from entering fully took precious moments before we could clear them from the entrance way and by then most of the Keep seemed to have joined the remaining Giants. Surrounded by three sides our backs to the open doorway to the open courtyard we bravely stood our ground! Mok declaring he would handle those to our right while Morrin dealt with those to the left Omegasaur stomped into the room towards the two burning elementals. There must have been about another 8-10 or so Fire Giants along with 4-5 Spell Casting Giants and those two Fire Elementals in total. In just the matter of a minute we had reduced it to a couple of their spell casters and the elementals but not before one of them managed to put a burning wall of fire blocking the doorway forcing us further into the room.

As Omegasaur ripped and bit at those elementals, he became engulfed in their flame to the point where a raging 15 foot tall burning Allosaurus stood in the middle of the chambers striking fear into everyone’s heart. It was then we heard a loud noise outside in the courtyard. Fearing for the safety of the human we had just saved Dusk flew through the burning wall of fire and quickly came back through screaming telepathically in our heads about an even Bigger Fire Giant coming!

Into the chambers burst the Fire Giants Leader nearly twice their size swinging a might sword he managed a lucky blow against me as I fled towards the middle of the chambers. There we stood our ground, Omegasaur fighting the remaining fire elemental, Morrin standing against the leader and an Efreet that was summoned out of nowhere while Mok, Clearice and Myself hid behind offering cover fire at our enemies.

Exhausted from the amount of enemies and seemingly overwhelmed as the remaining casters seemed to be focusing their energies on healing their leader as we threw what we could at him Mok pulled out a strange combination of Staff and Rod and proceeded to suck up the magical attacks the Efreet threw his way. I later learned it was a Rod of Absorption and with it he was able to harness their magical energy to replenish his at least enough to provide us with one more blast of cold energy driving the Efreet out of the fight and dealing with one of those pesky caster giants but not before we watched Morrin collapse as the Efreet managed to shoot off one last round of acidic rays melting Morrin’s cloak as he lay prone and unresponsive on the ground.

Those casters dispelled Omega’s Dinosaur form but not before Mok put out his burning body using his Staff. Still Enraged Omega charged at the remaining caster dropping him in a flurry of swings. Now alone the Fire Giant Leader attempted to pull back into the courtyard stepping through the flames only to have Omega step after him while Mok put out the burning body of Morrin and with the aid of Clearice get him back up and moving around. As we chased after we arrived in time to see Omega desperately battling the Leader to see his mighty blow drop this Huge Behemoth of a Fire Giant.

We spent nearly a day inspecting the fort for treasure and found amongst it a portal to the realm of fire and some prisoners, 2 duergar, a single drow elf inside cells and 2 more humans in a pit. We promised to free the duergar and drow once we leave but they didn’t seem to believe us nor offer us any information on the Underdark. The humans were priests of Kossuth and once freed quickly speed off to their friend we had saved above and into the Underdark.

It was in the bowels of the fort we came across a cold room. Strange for a place so warmed by a lake of lava and inside we saw a Red Gemstone on a pedestal. We took some time here to rest up and then prepared ourselves as Mok entered the chamber and retrieved the Gemstone but not before doing a strange dance stepping into and out of the circle around the pedestal. Mok noticed a strange figure seemingly trapped inside the stone and presumed it was a stone of holding or some such capable of trapping a creature or person and holding them frozen in a moment. After speaking with her Goddess through some divination Clearice determined it would be safe to break the stone. Mok tried but wasn’t strong enough and it fell to Omega’s mighty strength to crush it which he did.

In a flash of light appeared an Efreet-like person named Prince Alfyal! Who was happy to be freed. He explained that he was enlisted to assist the Fire Giants and their allies of Efreets only to be imprisoned to keep his silence about their base of operations and the portal they had created to the fire realm. Since he was immortal, they kept him frozen in the stone protected from scrying and divination in that chamber so no one could come to his rescue. As thanks for freeing him he offered Omega a reward or should Omega choose another member one who had “lost the most” in the struggle to free him. Thinking of Morrin’s loss of his cloak he said that Morrin should be rewarded. Morrin put forth his hand to have a ruby ring placed onto an empty finger causing his hand to burst into fire! Prince Alfyal told him to let the fire consuming him and sure enough the fire eventually went out on it’s own bonding the ring to him. Prince Alfyal the told Morrin and us that this ring would Identify him as a friend to anyone from the plane of Fire and provide him with many abilities of fire and protections from fire.

With that, we lead Prince Alfyal to the portal and he returned home as we left we shut the doors to the room. We freed the 2 duergar and drow as we prepare to leave and finish our exploration. We also wanted to permanently seal the portal or reduce it to rubble but lacked the power at this time to do so. When we return to Raven’s Deep we will mention this in our report in hopes they can send a group specifically designed to seal portals to other realms or at least cause a controlled cave in to destroy this fort and keep it and the portal out of other cruel hands.

Rewards

200gp of drow coins
100 GP of zhakaran coin
150 GP of Raven’s Bluff gold
There is a spider pin, looks like it is worth something
4 Imic holy symbol (elder fire giant who’s evil)
A giant sized bolt of red and orange spider silk worth 200gp
A bottle of Infernium, which is a rare bottle of alcohol from plain of fire.
A curtain of Silence woven of spider silk and no sound can pass if you hang in a doorway. 6ft x 10ft.

Leader of Fire Giants Sword
+3 two handed sword (Huge) does damage of one category higher, need a 22 strength just to wield it, need fire giant strength to not go last in the round. Makes the sword and bearer IMMUNE to fire. You can cast reduce on the sword, and then you need an 18 to wield it, a 22 to not go last that reduces it to a large weapon.

Elementals of the plane to which the ring is attuned can’t attack the wearer, or even approach within 5 feet of him. If the wearer desires, he may forego this protection and instead attempt to charm the elemental (as charm monster, Will DC 17 negates). If the charm attempt fails, however, absolute protection is lost and no further attempt at charming can be made.

Creatures from the plane to which the ring is attuned who attack the wearer take a –1 penalty on their attack rolls. The ring wearer makes applicable saving throws against the extra planar creature’s attacks with a +2 resistance bonus. He gains a +4 morale bonus on all attack rolls against such creatures. Any weapon he uses bypasses the damage reduction of such creatures, regardless of any qualities the weapon may or may not have. The wearer of the ring is able to converse with creatures from the plane to which his ring is attuned. These creatures recognize that he wears the ring, and show a healthy respect for the wearer if alignments are similar. If alignments are opposed, creatures fear the wearer if he is strong. If he is weak, they hate and desire to slay him.

I don’t know if this will ever find it’s way to you but I felt the need to record what happened while in the Underdark in the event I do not make it out of the darkness and back into the light. While I have only been your father for the past week or so I know that if I don’t return you are still in good hands with the remaining Midnight Menagerie and it’s caretakers at our Keep. Know that I name you my rightful heir and bestow upon you all my possessions and effects in the event of my demise. Here is my tale at least what I have managed to record so far as obviously should I fall I will not be able to record exactly what happened to myself.

The trip was long but not as long as it took us previously to reach Lower Sarbreen cavern. In fact where it took us previously 20+ days now only took around 8 with the pathway cleared and it’s obstacles overcome with a series of pulleys and cables for raising and lowering travelers down the side of deep drops or reliable bridges in place to span what seems endless drops across chasms.

Upon reaching the outpost called Raven’s Deep we meet with Lord Blacktree who informed us as to why were summoned back into the endless night. Our services were required to further secure the outpost by scouting out the region for hostile groups and if possible to secure any allies or trade contacts should we happen upon some peaceful creatures. With reports of activity in an old Dwarven temple that previously housed a Dragon we had vanquished we decided to start there and loop around through the tunnels avoiding further contact with Ravens Deep in case we are being followed or watched so as not to give away it’s position.

Sure enough when we reached that fateful chamber with it’s magical healing waters we found a male and two females inside a magical circle along with what remained of the dragon seemingly sowed back together. We confronted those people with regards to their actions to find they were followers of Gargauth and where undertaking to bring back to life the dragon as per it’s request/will it had left with their cult in the event of it’s demise.

I guess our desire to prevent that showed for suddenly both Mok and Omega where thrown into the air towards the ceiling as one of them cast a spell reversing gravity in a small section they stood upon. With that, we sprang to action but it seemed nothing we did could get through the circle they stood inside that is until Omega managed to appear inside by drinking a potion. A series of blade barriers cast by Clearice and in conjunction with Morrin working on destroying the circle itself we managed to break inside and punish the 2 females for we had seen Omega get stunned and then fall to the ground. The male however managed to escape with a word of power teleporting him to where ever he came from we figured.

We found upon their bodies an evil book of magic that we deemed best to see destroyed, for who knows what enchantments are inside, but knowing the cultist religion and their obvious purpose being there to raise the dragon I would imagine it has to do with necromancy. After burning the dragons body to dust we then placed the ash remains inside a pouch and intend to see it never falls into any evil necromancers hands. With that we left the chamber and upon reaching a rest spot recovered from the ordeal.

A day later we headed down an unexplored tunnel and found a river of lava. The heat was intense but we crossed without to much difficulty only to shortly after find a main source of it in the form of a large cavern with a lake of the stuff with a river on both ends one feeding and one exiting. The heat here was extreme but thanks to some magical protection, we could manage for a time. We saw across the lake on the far side of the cavern what appeared to be a fort with some fire giants.

Diplomacy failed for these Giants are cruel creatures who delight in torture as was obvious the moment we saw them throw a human over the walls with a spear through him attached to a chain. Now I wait for the signal to help storm its walls so I must go my daughter.

I was in the library reading a fascinating book on the history and biology of Beholder’s when I was told by Pimfire (Such a very Likable little fellow though odd at times with his coin flipping) that we had a rendezvous at the Tilted Tavern.
I had never heard of such a place and assumed it might have been named due to the leanings of drunkards but when we arrived i was greeted by the sight of an engineering miracle. The Tilted Tavern was not named after an inebriated mans stance but is named, and rightfully so, after the precarious and shocking angle that the tavern has adopted over the edge of the Fire River.
Its a wonder how such a structure is still standing being only held up by stilts but this was our destination so we entered promptly and carefully.
Once inside we finally meet with the individual who summoned us. His name is Sergeant Hervor of the Sewer Patrol.
He greets us and informs us that there is an infestation of giant slugs in the sewer but to the groups dismay things wouldn’t be so simple for us. He than told us the reason we were summoned was to deal with the sighting of a 20ft alligator that came out of the sewers nearby.
He told us that it was sighted by William O’Grady the bartender. The sergeant also introduced us to a Dashing and well renowned Paladin by the name of Warhawk Starson who was in very high standing in the city and was looking to assist us in our mission.
As the fair Sergeant departed my allies approached the bar while Morrin and I sat at a table and watched when a big burly man by the name of Grumwich approached and challenged Morrin to a game of Soaked.
Morrin agreed of course wagering a few drinks
As he stepped out side i followed to see them both get onto a log floating in the river. Grumwich moved suddenly and Morrin immediately toppled into the water.
I couldn’t help but laugh at how easily Grumwich had one but has Morrin got up and we reentered thew tavern the group was ready to go so we head out towards the sewers entrance were the Crocodile had come from the day before. I was told the bartender claimed it was actually 40 ft long when he had seen it but i feel as though he was embellishing the story a bit.
We entered the sewers and almost immediately find more crocodiles that seemed just like the one we were told about so i flew forward and turned them all into an unidentifiable mist of blood and gore with my Blade Barrier. As I dismissed my barrier i saw a rather large snake swim off down a passage with a bit of the crocs in toe.
We decided to follow it given its unnatural size and not knowing were else to head.
After traveling some way down the passage we came across a truly bizarre sight. We turned a corner to see a rust monster being beaten in the face by a flying broom. After blocking them off with ice we decide to obliterate them both.
We drop the wall of ice and unleash on the rust monster and after killing it with impunity the broom than came flying at us blinding Pimfire and dusk and splitting into to brooms when cut in two.
We than dispatched the brooms bluntly with the help of Adunaphel, Warhawk’s intelligent sword,(Oh i wish i could have a conversation with her Im sure she has some stories to tell) and healed our friends ailments quickly and continued on our journey.
We than came across some more sewer Brigade men killing the aforementioned giant slugs. We than speak with Corporal Grungar of the sewer brigade asking his advice and informing him of the Rust Monster. We than depart and head towards the southern tunnel he had suggested as it led to the Mongrelmen Tribe of Grookachoo.
Everyone than hears a faint cry for help up ahead. We spring into action moving forward to find a young Mongrelman girl who we promptly rescue. Her name was Amuka and sadly her father died in the crevace we saved her from holding her above the water.
She than leads us to her very well hidden village named MukMuk were we meet Flandren, the leader of the village, and throw a feast in our honor and Pimfire actually adopts the young girl!(Such a happy moment for him!)
Flandren than tell us of a filthy follower of Malar enslaving and collecting snakes in these sewers.(I vowed to kill this corrupter of nature if it killed me)
He point us in the direction of her haunt and he gives us a scroll to aid in our fight.
It didn’t take long till we found Malar’s Bitch waiting with a whole hoard of snakes. She had collected constrictors vipers even an Amphisbaena and somehow she corrupted a Couatl to her cause for that her end would be painful.
We began fighting swarmed with snakes and as it progressed Omegasun was grabbed, much to its own folly, by the Amphisbaena. He proceded to punch and beat the two headed snake till its head exploded. By this time Warhawk got within range of Malar’s bitch and swung at her with Holy Fury killing her where she stood.
We than approached what we hadn’t know at the time was a Couatl. Warhawk and Adunaphel than told us all that it was a creature of good and that we must let it go free which we certainly did.
We than made our way out of the sewer and reported to the sewer Brigade our findings telling them the Crocs had been her doing. They awarded everyone in the party a vial of Oil of Timelessness for our hard work.

I have heard that Clearice has been the one to go around the taverns telling folks of our deeds and spreading our fame this past week or so, which is good as I have been busy around the keep. Who would have thought that I would become a father yet here we are. About a week ago, the midnight menagerie went into the sewers to hunt down gigantic monstrous crocodiles or whatever was creating and/or controlling them. We ended up finding a rust monster and even an angry flying broom. Yes, I said a broom. Our journey ended in confronting a priestess of Malar controlling a bunch of snakes. It was during our travels in the sewers that something profound happened to me. I met Amuka.

While down there, we heard screaming for help coming from a pit in the sewers that was rapidly filling with water. Without hesitation I dove in and from that effort was able to save a young female Mongrel named Amuka who was trapped down there when the heavy rains caused the water level to rise and prevented her from being able to climb out the sides of the pit due to its heavier than normal water flow. Omega tossed down some rope and while I held onto the rope and Amuka, he managed to pull us up out of danger. It was only then we found out that her father had drowned holding her up and keeping her alive long enough for help (us) to arrive.

Amuka was very brave given the circumstances and was able to show us the way to her community of fellow Mongrols which are called MukMuk be it her tribe or name of the small village they had built in the sewers I was never clear which. It was there during a feast thrown by her people that I came to adopt her since by their traditions an orphan may be adopted by the person who saves said orphan from danger. In this particular case, she would come live with me above in Raven’s Bluff and in so doing become, a “streetwalker” which is a high honor for them it turns out.

I have grown up on the streets in Raven’s Bluff as an orphan learning how to beg, pickpockets and find partially eaten food in others garbage heaps. It is those hardships I hope to shelter Amuka from by giving her a home and a trade as a storyteller like myself. Should she prove to be interested in some other trade though I have decided I will seek out the finest educators for her so she may one day excel at what makes her happy.

There are many words that can be said to try and hurt someone emotionally but nothing hurts more then the words we say to ourselves in the dark of night when we are alone with nothing but our own thoughts on how we acted and behaved that day. Words like Regret, Shame, Humiliation and Exhaustion are some such words that hover about in my mind after what happened today.

Regret and Shame that several evil people slipped through our grasp and if they are true to their nature WILL harm others again in the future.

Humiliation that we acted rashly and rushed in without investigating like we normally do and as a result ended up being duped into a dangerous sailing trap that could have easily been avoided.

Exhaustion over how the evil keeps coming and coming with never a moments rest or thought to being allowed a good nights rest in exchange for saving the city time and time again. Just once I would like to sleep past sunrise and wake up thinking “huh wasted half the day abed” then just roll over and waste the other off getting a head start on that evening’s sleep.

Well for better or worse here is what happens when you don’t get a good nights rest before an adventure.

We were awoke as usual early in the morning by someone needing our help. Brother Helgar Shieldbasher asked us to come with him to the temple of Gond to help out. When we got to the temple I was impressed and curious about so many of the experiments and devices displayed inside the temples high walls but too tired to really ask much about them. Being brought before Father Otis Gregor we saw Rolf Sunriver of the city watch was with him who then explained the reason for the summons was to help in finding a missing Gond priest one Shabaan Monheim who was recently returned from a long absence only to be snatched out from the bathhouse leaving 2 murdered priests behind. Hence why Rolf Sunriver was present. Turns out it was the watch who recommended us to Father Otis to help solve and if possible save Shabaan.

This is where our exhaustion must have set in because we rushed to the scene of the bathhouse and quickly examined the bodies and rooms.. There was barely even time for questions or the usual shenanigans that we get up too. In fact the only one who seemed normal was Dusk because he dove into the pool and waited for Clearice to come over before flying out and spitting a stream of water into her face.

The next thing you know I’m holding onto some rope with Omega holding the other end and he jumps into a giant hole in the bathhouse floor drops 20 feet down into the sewers and drags me with him. We try and track some footprints through the disgusting sewers but reach a dead end of sorts when the walkway ends with a rush stream of sludge heading perpendicular at the end. Figuring to scout ahead and save us time from being in the sludge dusk flies on up against the stream first only to come back complaining of a cold blast of magical energy he ran into and a door he found afterwords.

Omega hoisted me up on his shoulders so I wouldn’t drown in filth and I firmly believe if it was a long trek to that door I’d have fallen asleep since it was still VERY early in the morning. Upon reaching the door Omega yanks it open with a horrible screeching sound of rusted hinges, drops me onto the dry pathway floor inside and charges off after what sounds like a waterfall……and fall he did right into 3 feet of the most disgusting filth you can imagine.

I don’t know if it was the fumes of the place or what but next thing you know we are seeing a bunch of Sea lions attacking him. We rush to his aid and proceed to kill them one by one only to watch as their bodies transform into humanoids upon death. Omega took the brunt of the blows or I should say bites. While Clearice flew around healing and checking out 2 tunnels on the far side. Yet again exhaustion makes hero’s do dumb things for as the last Sea Lion is being slain a blast of magical energy streams out from the nearest tunnel to Clearice burning and eventually knocking her unconscious as 2 wizards/priests or some other combination of spell casters step out to the edge and unleash fury on the group. Suddenly more awake I turn the one flying up by Clearice into my private pin cushion while Omega and Morrin easily slay the other. We take a bit of time to help our friend Clearice and check through the bodies for clues but not having much to go on we continue forward as I’m told Omega and the others saw someone run off the moment we started fighting the Sea Lions.

We eventually arrive at the edge of the sewers leading into the harbor and there meet Molly Morine an elderly lady who frankly is crazy. I notice a person who was eyeing us the whole time the rest of the gang was chatting up Molly and upon pointing him out to Omega he promptly went over to the guy and started questioning him. Turns out it’s a Sea Elf named Sintrol who is a wizard specializing in fishing and ships. He tells us of a couple of thugs he saw carry a unconscious gnome aboard a ship earlier and after the ship set sail it returned 2 hours later without the passengers. Unable to describe Shabaan because we didn’t even ask what he looked like we figure that a unconscious gnome being carried aboard a vessel at about the same time as Shabaan went missing must be connected. We thank Sintrol for the information and try and recruit him for Dolly’s Anger but he turns us down. I hang back and offer him a 500g advancement should he change his mind and rush to catch up with the rest of the gang as they approach this vessel.

“The Runner” was her name and that should have been a clue but our sleep deprived minds didn’t catch on. After speaking to the captain and explaining the Gnome was a friend and kidnapped he quickly offers to take us to where he dropped off the people on a beach an hour up coast claiming to have no knowledge it was a kidnapping. Another clue we ignored for HOW can a captain not suspect something is wrong when one of his passengers is clearly unconscious and being carried aboard. But we set sail and as we cleared the harbor got asked to help tie down some crates and boxes. During this time they must have been able to set everything up because the next thing I know we are heading straight for some rocky reefs and everyone is yelling about a fire down below while smoke is pouring out of the hold!

We rush down to deal with the fire and when we come up find the crew and captain have jumped ship but not before breaking the rudder so we can’t steer clear of the rocks. Omega says they changed into Sea Lions and given what we experienced in the sewers it seems they must have been some sort of Were-Sea-Lions or something of that nature. Dusk starts yelling at us to cut the sails down to slow progress which Omega does with brutal efficiency by means of cutting ALL rope and sails he can see. I calm the seas with my Horn and then Morrin lowers the front anchor just managing to get the ship to stop abruptly before crashing into the reef ahead.

Sintrol magically appears on his longboat and climbs aboard. Turns out he was following us since he suspected something was up when the captain sailed north instead of south like he did earlier with the passengers we seek. We all take a look around for anything valuable aboard and realizing we have no way of getting this ship back to Raven’s Bluff with no rudder, sails destroyed and the hull probably taking some damage from that full speed anchor drop Clearice in a peak of rage decides to scuttle her and deprive the Were-Sea-Lions the ability to reclaim her later when we are gone.

Sintrol agrees to take us south along the coast in search of a place they might have stopped. About an hour south of Raven’s Bluff we see a high cliff with a small cave that you could fit a small ship into. Sintrol stays back since his vessel is just a bit too big and we use the folding boat to get into the caves. Whereupon we find 3 guards 2 humans and a gray dwarf we identify later as a Duergar. Omega and Morrin rush the dwarf slaying him and getting the other 2 guards to surrender. We discover Shabaan was held prisoner inside a room off the main cave chamber. After questioning the guards and Shabaan we find out that a powerful Wizard hired him under the guise of the town council needing a lead engineer saying they were building a tunnel for secret defense purposes but turns out that wasn’t the case but rather it was an invasion plan of sorts. This wizard has 2 sons one who is also a wizard and the other a priest. We are told the tunnel is close to being finished and Shabaan agrees to build a pocket watch for Clearice IF we save all the other miners. Shabaan manages to blow up the 2 captured guards in a peak of vengeance using a strange device and we get him out Sintrol and then continue down the magically and mundane made tunnel. After a couple of hours we hear some shrieking mushrooms which Omega shuts up but not before they seem to warn everyone of our presence because suddenly he’s surrounded by 7 Duergar and nearly managing to kill him before Omega disappears. We quickly blind, incapacity and kill them in a flurry of blows the likes of which they’ve never seen …… get it cause they were blind! ha ha ha ha

Finally we reach the end of the corridor to see a pit and strangely 2 dozen miners stuck to the ceiling in fear over it while a Wizard in robes stands on the far side of the pit. This is none other then Sysmar the wizard who planned this whole thing. We regretfully are forced to let him escape and live (for now) as he holds the miners hostage for his personal safety and the only way to save those lives is let him go.

We manage to get the miners off the ceiling before the magical spell ends that would drop them into the pit and back to town on Sintrol’s Longboat and our Folding boat.

Father Otis is happy that Shabaan is back as is the city watch and it’s decided the city will keep the tunnel for emergency security usesCollapse the tunnel for security reasons.

The Morale of this story is a good nights rest goes a LONG way to saving citizens and catching/killing the bad guys.

Rewards

Father Otis offers thanks and even offers work to the rescued miners and swears us to secrecy about the tunnel since may be useful for the city in future. He offers to enhance one of our weapons with a magical power.
- Choices are Detect invisibility/magic/evil 10ft radius once per adventure and lasts 3 rounds. Takes a standard action to start.
- Omega choose Detect Invisibility on his Flachion
- Morrin, Pimfire & Clearice get a potion of water walk.

Omega turns out has Sealion lycanthropy from all those bites he took and requires a remove curse from a 12 level Cleric. Omega used a favor with a God and had this curse removed.

Clearice got her pocket watch FINALLY!

Clearice spent 1 hero point to prevent DEATH here this game no she’s down to 0 points.

Awakening to find a floating scroll from Duane Fairview, the assistant to our fair lady mayor, hovering in one’s bedchambers is to say the least a bit worrisome. I really got to see Mok about getting magical protection put on our Keep if people can teleport scrolls in who’s to say our enemies can’t also just teleport in while we are sleeping.

Following the directions in the scroll we approached the docks that morning on what the city of Raven’s Bluff is now calling the greatest navel disaster ever to see the mayor herself christening the new warship the Emerald Raven a massive ship unlike any to ever set sail. Clearice thinks it may have been devised by gnomes and involved cannons and that highly volatile substance know as gunpowder.

We were meet at the door to the warehouse we were told to report to by Bluontis who I must say seemed rather rude since he did ask for papers and I gave him literally every scrape I had. If he meant the invitation he should have just asked specifically for it. Anyways he proceeds to tell us that the storm heading towards the city is in fact a special magical spell which only the Gods themselves and a few extremely powerful beings can manage called “hurricane” and that it’s being controlled by the oldest and most powerful Beholder ever known one XAXANTHRAXIS who hasn’t been seen in roughly 400 years.

I think everyone remembers exactly where they were when they heard the Big Bang that morning. We were just finishing up our mission briefing when the wall facing the docks flew inwards. Rushing out we could clearly see the Emerald Raven was gone and debris, fire and smoke everywhere. Some citizens say they saw 3 floating wizards high above the harbor briefly amongst the smoke before disappearing. No one really knows for sure what happened.

I do know that we immediately rushed towards the harbor. Clearice ran around the docks trying to heal everyone, Omega jumped into the harbor carrying some from a nearby burning building and then trying to find other survivors who were flung into the waters, Morrin rushed to the aid of others who were closest to the blast but couldn’t find anyone left alive. Me I just got the mayor out of the harbor where she was laying face down unconscious and after seeing her start to cough up water helped a pair of people before summoning the nearby Triton’s to help put out the blaze. I know there are some who will be telling tales of Omega’s heroic effort in ignoring the flames and smoke by rushing into a burning building to drag out those who were trapped while Clearice after healing everyone she could see set to putting out the fires of a burning building all by herself. Morrin managed to even control and put out many ship fires. There are even reports by one witness who claims that a Rhinoceros dragged him away from a fire and then was running around with him in his mouth before disappearing. Many suspect the stand that was on fire nearby was a cover for some criminal group and there was something in the smoke that caused him to hallucinate.

Once the fire was put out and other help arrived we were on the way back to the warehouse where Bluontis was waiting who I would like to point out didn’t do anything to help those at the docks even though some say he’s a good guy mercenaries don’t work unless they are getting paid I guess. When we meet Leovinus who was a specialist on beholders and even had what seemed to be a pet beholder sitting on his shoulder. He was asked by the city to provide us with information on XAXANTHRAXIS and even gave us a large gold coin saying it would help identify us as friends to beholders and hopefully allow us to parlay with XAXANTHRAXIS. He also told us that no one as seen XAXANTHRAXIS since he had a battle with a powerful mage that lasted for 10 days straight and ended in some sort of deal whereby he wasn’t to ever harm anyone ever again 400 years ago.

We made it back to Bluontis at the warehouse who told us time was drawing short as we could see the storm was moving closer and would destroy Raven’s Bluff if it reached it. The transportation that was arranged was destroyed in the harbor along with many other ships and the Emerald Raven so he ushered us downstairs and locked us in a strange room with a very large puddle on the far side telling us someone named “the Professor” would be along to provide transportation to take us to the eye of the storm where we could plead with XAXANTHRAXIS to stop his warpath.

A strange noise and some bubbling was our only warning when a metal fish seemed to LEAP out of the puddle, turns out was a underground waterway to the harbor, and some gnomes pop out of a small hatch. One of them introduces himself as the Professor and says we are to take his Gray Fish some sort of ship that can travel under water of all things and that his Fish Mate Kuno will see we get to our destination.

Once aboard the gnome crew who turns out have a delightful sense of humor about gnomes themselves begins seeing to getting the Gray Fish under way. Suddenly we find ourselves being given a tour of how to use various devices and doorways aboard. It’s not long perhaps an hour before we are tangled up in some seaweed and offering to out and clear it we exit only to find the current is strong and violent from the approaching storm. Clearice and Omega see to clearing the seaweed while Morrin tries to catch me as I am tossed about. Just as they finish clearing the seaweed and Morrin grabs a hold of me a immense undead Dracolich – Sea Turtle comes hurtling out of the dark waters to slam into and damage the Gray Fish which promptly beings ascending to the surface leaving us to deal with this undead monstrosity. Omega, Morrin and Clearice manage to harm it only to see it regenerate and turn even more furious knocking Morrin out before Clearice and Omega manage to destroy it’s body. Being tossed about I managed to summon a group of sharks to aid me and pull me back towards the fight when just after the death blow another group of sharks seemed to appear out of no where!

Well my new found aquatic friends and I quickly made short work of those but upon arriving back to the Gray Fish I found Omega, Morrin and Clearice in battle with a wizard and one of the crew members. Omega wanted the wizard’s staff saying something about destroying it to free XAXANTHRAXIS and saving the city. In close quarters the wizard didn’t stand a chance and it wasn’t long before Omega was holding the staff.

I’ve seen Sune Firehair the goddess of beauty, I’ve witness the rebirth of the Goddess Waukeen, I’ve been to the lower layers of the Abyss and seen demons a plenty. There are no words to describe seeing XAXANTHRAXIS mightiest of Beholder kind. Who promptly took the staff and destroyed it. In gratitude for ending his slavery by the wizard he saw our ship was sinking and allowed us to ride several of his minions back to shore and agreed to return to his slumber and not harm any living creatures.

I learned afterwords that the coin Omega was carrying allowed him to communicate with XAXANTHRAXIS while we were fighting the Undead Sea Turtle/Dragon hence why he knew to find a wizard carrying the staff that was controlling XAXANTHRAXIS.

Thankful for both our assistance at the harbor and our efforts in turning back the storm we were granted personalized banner flags to be flown over our keep.

Rewards

XP 6750

Gold 5000 each (we each gave 500 of this to Keep treasure for a total of 4500 gold each)

General Knightly Honor: Personal Banner – is a symbol of a true hero and common for it to fly over the homes of those who helped save the city from some ancient evil. (we all get one each)

From Leovinus
- Omega holds the Gold Coin which gives a 20% to be recognized as a beholder friend (4 charges left)
- A set of books on Beholder Lore = +5 history check on beholders which is stored in Keep Library
- Blinky a baby beholder whom we are to raise as a familiar/pet

How does one truly record the rebirth of a Goddess? All I can do is record the facts as I saw them for future prosperity.

In my last entry I wrote how we were waiting outside the Weeping Goddess in Samora on the 47th layer of the Abyss looking for the right moment to enter and use a portal that supposedly would lead into Maretta’s Counting-House and from there we hoped to encounter the Marilith Viren.

After watching for the tavern for a good couple of hours we noticed that it’s demon patrons would leave and go down an alley alongside it but not return for some time. It’s then we figured the portal wasn’t inside but rather in an alley next to it and so we found ourselves in a demonic accounting office surrounded by some demons who’s blood was so acidic it melted the weapons we used to cut them to ribbons.

Quickly lest we be discovered we started moving deeper into the building and at a Y based intersection ended up going the wrong way only to encounter a very powerful Nalfeshnee who after trading a few powerful blows decided to teleport out and to safety along with his desk of all things! He did however sound a warning to Viren that intruders were present. It was that warning that we dearly hoped to avoid and I sincerely hope we get to meet this particular demon again on our own plane that way I can have the pleasure of banishing him back to the Abyss for 100 years.

Running back the way we came we went down the other section of that Y intersection and there found Viren along with a dozen or so Vrocks. She quickly called up a toxic cloud in the room and a blade barrier appeared swarming around us as we stood in the entrance way. Viren taunted us that we were too late and the “Lady” was going to disposed of just before she ordered several of the Vrocks to go into another room and deal with their prisoner.

Once we dealt with a lone crazy suicidal Vrock we ignored the others and focused on Viren only find out later that Vrocks dancing together results in a very powerful thunderstorm. I’ll never be able to go outside in a heavy thundershower again without wondering if a bunch of dancing demons aren’t nearby controlling it.

The dagger provided by Annia Graystockings proved to do the trick and shattered the Marilith’s magical defenses allowing us to finish her off but not before Mok unleashed some sort of power from one of those crystalline figurines taken from the Deep Dragon horde allowing him to use elemental spells in the Abyss. It was certainly due to this newfound power of Mok’s and the Dagger from Annia that we managed to defeat Viren and rout the Vrocks.

Gathering up what we could we entered the other room prepared to fight the Vrocks we saw go in only to discover it empty except for Sir Dresden Drumheller and The Goddess Waukeen herself. Quickly fleeing with them we managed to make it back to the portal in Samora leading to the Celestial Stairway all the while encountering minor demons that we managed to drive off. Just as we are about step through however we felt the presence of a very powerful and angry demon approaching rapidly. Fearing it to be non other then Mr. Booger A.K.A. Graz’zt himself we enter the Celestial Stairway and begin our climb to find the way back to the Goddess Waukeen’s home plane.

As we are walking along the stairway is when it all began to happen. The rebirth of a Goddess. Her hair changed to a golden silky mane of unmatched beauty, her very clothes seemed to have become embroidered with costly gold thread, her steps sure and quick as she took the lead towards home.

Before we found the door however we did happen upon a Paladin of Ilmater who was seeking Annia Graystockings. We provided him with all the information we had regarding what plane, door and how to get to where we last saw her and unable to help at this time as we still had to see both the Goddess and our friend home safely we then parted ways.

The Markets. I will always remember those stalls and shops that lined the Bazaar as we approached her Temple once we reached her home plane/city. There we meet a Gynosphinx named Keelira the steward of the temple. It was her that proclaimed the Goddess returned and upon doing so a festival unlike any other broke out. After we had rested and recovered from our journey and the festivities died down the Goddess wishing to reward us spoke to each of us in turn telepathically asking what we desired. After which we returned to Raven’s Bluff to rest and see our good friend Sir Dresden Drumheller recover over the next several days.

Rewards

- Morrin’s curse both verbal and the Mark bestowed by that evil Lich we encountered in Underdark was removed in gratitude by the Goddess Waukeen

- Clearice was given a key that would help negate to some degree the distance she feels from her Goddess when traveling the various outer Planes and was offered a position among Waukeen’s clergy which upon communing with Chauntea was told this would be okay so long as she still followed Chauntea’s beliefs.

- Omega asked for a million gold for the revitalizing and rebuilding of Raven’s Bluff which once we returned the mayor thanked us and gave us the next 5 years off from our Taxes! since he didn’t request anything for himself the Goddess also saw to it that he received a very powerful Flachion of glow steel a almost holy like metal that will come in handy fighting demons since she knew he lost several weapons fighting demons to save her.

- Pimfire stunned and unable to dream of asking for anything specific simple asked for a favor to be called at a later time which she gladly granted.

- Mok received some mystical training and understanding in the ways of Mystra’s silver flame

Clearice also saw too it that the temples destroyed the Marilith’s evil blades we managed to grab upon defeating her that way they wouldn’t be used to hurt anyone else ever again, in exchange for such a wonderful deed of removing those foul blades she was granted their value or some of it towards tithing purposes later on.

1 Chiv point was awarded to everyone present
2500 XP was awarded for completion of this special mission

I have to admit I was surprised when we visited the Sodden Tavern to see so many humans, dwarves and even a blue giant as patrons. Maybe I am just a purist but I like my Abyss dark and swarming in demons, the fact so many other races seem to inhabit, visit or travel through the Abyss makes me wonder if our constant poking by mortals into things not belonging to us is the reason the demons are angry all the time in the first place but then again demons are born cruel and evil so maybe not.

We did meet a interesting person named Warwick however who according to Ceylon is another guide of the celestial stairway and whom after we spent some time speaking to found out was in-between jobs at the moment. Despite his enormous daily rate we decided to hire him on as he seemed to be a specialist on the Abyssal layers we’ve found ourselves. He provided Morrin a 6 fingered monkey hand saying something about it being able to cast magic here which didn’t make any sense to me since how is a monkey hand that some taxidermist (who wasn’t very good cause who’s ever heard of a monkey with 6 fingers) made able to cast magic without the rest of the body to go with it I dunno but Morrin seemed happy even though it’s hard to tell these days as he doesn’t say much. Say much. Get it ha ha ha ha………say much…..ha ha ha ha…..oh my seems my tears of laughter have stained this page. Still it was pretty funny because Morrin can’t speak….say much…..where was I?

Oh yes the flame portals. Turns out the Lord of these layers has a capital palace which spans all 3 layers from the 45th – 47th layer and the entrance to the palace is on the 45th while we are in the 47th. So we have to walk through green fire to travel upwards to the 45th. Children DO NOT try this at home or it will upset your parents.

Upon entering the 45th layer we landed smack in the middle of something called the Viper Forest which is an Apt name for the place as the trees are somehow animated/alive and the branches are snakelike with a bite that seems to drain your energy making you sluggish. If you think trees with snake branches are strange you should meet Annia Graystockings she wanders through the forest telling tales about being a Paladin of Ilmater who was taken by some slave traders and brought to the Abyss and now wanders around in search of a way to atone and reach home. We did get a dagger and some information regarding a lieutenant in service to the demon lord one Marilith named Verin that she wished us to kill. Since killing demons is what we do we agreed should we meet Verin to slay her on Annia’s behalf. She also seemed to know about the Goddess being shuttled by caravan back and forth from the palace Zelatar and Samora the city we first entered on the 47th layer.

Finally we reached Zelatar where my heart wept for a unicorn we were forced to watch sold in auction to a demon whom it seemed was most likely going to kill it in some bizarre demonic ritual for more power. Unable to do anything to help we had to watch as it was dragged off. The sad thing is it’s a common occurrence there.

The Wandering Balor now THERE is an inn. It sits atop a giant Elephant that slowly wanders around the city. You have to climb up using a rope to it’s entrance and once inside you never put your drink down as the rolling gait of the beast would cause your beverage to spill. It was there I meet the most UGLY succubus to ever wander the Abyss. She is so ugly she lives out her days in this dive bar as a prostitute hiring herself out to whomever wanders in. Don’t ask the rest of the Menagerie about her or they will tell you some story about how she’s beautiful and that I was trying to hit on her…..like I would ever be interested in a demonic prostitute. It’s here however from the bartender that Mok discovered the caravan holding a special female “guest” of the Lord will be returning in 2 days time to Zelatar.

At the Whimpering Mortal another tavern…..seems like a LOT of demons enjoy booze given the number there are per city in the Abyss as if a angry demon isn’t enough trouble lets get them drunk and angry……bar fights in the Abyss are a sight to behold! that is if you manage to live and keep your eyesight. Anyway it was here we got a big break in the case for we met a Vrock named Clyddis who after a hefty bribe told us how he used to be employed as a guard on the caravan and that no one ever saw this mysterious Lady whom they were to protect but figures that’s because none of them were deemed worthy when in most likely hood it’s because it was a trap. Clyddis also told us that a lieutenant of the Lord by the name of Verin oversee’s Maretta’s Counting-House in Samora back on the 47th layer and there is a portal gate in the Weeping Goddess that should lead to the counting house.

We are not sure if this may be another trap but we figure since we’ve now heard the name Verin from multiple sources it’s worth it to investigate. The very least taking out Verin will help our crazy friend Annia Graystockings and upset/weaken the Lord of these Abyssal Layers of a valuable lieutenant. Perhaps Verin may even yeild up the location of the Goddess and our dear friend Dresden .

We left as soon as our guide Warwick could find a portal to take us back to Samora. Now we sit and wait in Samora for an opportune moment to enter the Weeping Goddess as the tavern is heavily populated by demons who according to local gossip don’t take kindly to mortals hanging around hitting on their ugly succubus women and most likely wouldn’t let us use this portal hidden inside.

The Abyss. So many words I could use to describe it right now as the air swirls around me. No place could make you feel so far away from home then being on one of the Abyssal Planes. Oh my I seemed to have skipped ahead my thoughts are unable to really focus at the moment seeing as how we just survived an encounter with some demons upon entering this foul place. Rather then rip this page out and start over allow me to begin again.

It was a beautiful day the sun had just risen and we were invited to the Temple of Waukeen it was there we met with the Lady Lauren Devillars who wished to express gratitude for our efforts in helping out around Raven’s Bluff and more specifically with her personal matters. She of course had another favor to ask of us which was meet with one Halanna who was stricken with an unknown malady. Upon entering the infirmary we found a sickly thin and feverish woman with gold hair that was matted with sweat. Whatever disease inflicts her you could tell she was wasting away to near nothing.

Her eyes flew open unexpectedly at our approach “Gold, Lady, Abyss, Graz’zt, Dresden, Betrayed, Betrayed, She Lives, She Lives!” she babbled before falling back into a troubled sleep. Needless to say our host the lovely Lady Devillars was stunned as were many of the staff present. Ushering us all out and into a quiet chamber she left us to discuss this strange development and the words spoken.

Mok looked disturbed as the name Dresden obviously meant something to him. He then told the group about how Dresden was left behind in a previous mission and if Halanna is to be believed alive somehow. Morrin recalls hearing about a Demon Lord who may have held the name uttered. Not long after this is puzzled out the Lady Devillars returned and confirmed our suspicions that she too believes our friend is alive and that it’s possible the Goddess Waukeen is hostage or trapped somewhere in the Abyss. She extracts a promise to keep a secret and in exchange will help us reach the Abyss. After we agree she tells us to go to the temple of Selune and meet with Mirial Moonsilver who will let us go below where a portal is that will lead us to the Celestial Stairway upon which we are to look for a doorway with a six fingered hand that will take us to the Abyss we seek. We ask a boon to help Clearice knowing full well from previous planar travel that her clerical powers will be severely weakened and are promised what aid can be given will be arranged as we are about to depart through the portal.

In the basement of the Temple of Selune we are each given a scroll with a spell inscribed two times on each that will allow the target of the spell to detect hostile creatures in proximity and the speed they are approaching, which may be very useful when traveling through the Abyss and Clearice is given a Power Key that will help negate some of the distance of being so close to such evil powers and far away from the source of her God.

Dizzy and disoriented we found ourselves on the celestial stairway upon stepping into the gate. As we take our first steps a creature appears with wings of an angel and a body of a female-snake like creature who informs us she is one of the guardians and protectors of the Celestial Stairway and wished to greet and inform us not to stray from the steps.

Mok asks a few questions regarding finding the gate we seek and to our amazement we find there is no set time or distance to walk but rather Need and Creativity are what fuel the stairway, that and the creatively which can be found on the plane/planet you seek. I tell the guardian a tale in exchange for this information and passage. The exhaustion of so many stairs looming before us we remove our armor as per a suggestion from the guardian and we began our climb.

What felt like half a day nearly passes as we randomly pick and choose directions as we go upwards only to encounter a strange humanoid I mistakenly thought was another Halfling but is instead a Kender named Tasslehoff Toeripper from a planet called Krynn. During a brief exchange of information Mok somehow lost a gold coin that Tasslehoff picked up and tried to give back to him but Mok refused and let him keep it as payment for the information. Which reminds me I really should make sure Mok fixed that pocket or else something else may have fallen out. The last thing we need is a trail for someone to follow and sneak up on us from behind.

Time has no real meaning on the Stairwell as it’s endless series of climbing continued with the occasional passing of Giant Roosters and Rothe before we found a landing large enough that a small tent like city was pitched upon it.

It’s here we meet a strange man who is cooking some delightful meats named King Doa. Turns out he’s also from Toril but the other side of the planet nearly and has a strange native tongue called Shao’Lun which I must say I would love to learn imagine the tales and stories they have that I could then translate and tell. I trade my set of paintbrushes for some shrimp and it’s while we are eating an Ogre mage named Ceylon comes over and indicates he’s a guide of sorts on the Celestial Stairwell for hire. Mok and him got to chatting and before ya know it we are bunking with an Ogre!

The follow day of travel he leads us to a doorway with a six fingered hand on it and provides us with some valuable information as to what spells we should avoid using while on this Abyssal Plane. We take some time to prepare and Clearice cast one of the spells from the scrolls onto Mok. It’s only as we step through the door it occurred to me we had gotten so used to not wearing armor that we forgot to put it back on and within seconds of getting over the passage through the gate into a strange Abyss city are we accosted by some Bar’Lgura (Tanar’ri) ape like demons hell bent on smashing us to pieces.

After fighting off the half dozen or so demons we take stock of our surroundings and it’s during this time I manage to record what has happened…..Oh Mok and the others are waving at me to hurry with getting my armor back on. Wait never mind Ceylon is telling them about the city in which we find ourselves. Something about the various marketplaces, inns and taverns that can be found. Sigh I best hurry and get my armor back on before they leave without me.

After Game Information

Pimfire used 8 hero points to acquire a new feat “Deadly Aim” and the hero points were adjusted accordingly.

The Bounty! She is the stuff of legends and I actually sailed upon her and discovered her many secrets. But I am getting ahead of myself this adventure began like many others with a summons to the Lord Mayor’s office.

Given an assignment to protect the High Autharch Blaze Mythalanir as he traveled home to Thay on his newly acquired ship The Bounty. It seems he was being hunted by some unknown assassins and as part of a diplomatic overture on Raven’s Bluff part we were to accompany him to see he made it safely home.

Yes it was THEBOUNTY the famous ship that stormed a beach of Thay with just her crew and took out over 300 soldiers. Yes the same Bounty that is immune to fire and other evocation spells. Yes the same Bounty thought lost at sea somehow still in one piece. Upon boarding the fine vessel in the harbour I knew we were in for trouble. With the first mate one Draketamer by name screaming and whipping Rashamen slaves all about a single glance at Omega and Clearice showed their views on slavery would be sorely tested in the coming month voyage at sea.

As I settled in the cabin the others went about getting to know the officers of the Bounty. Omega made a good friend in the ship’s cook, Clampett, whom for a few drinks of booze gave up a wide assortment of information on the other officers so I was told. Clearice got to know the other officers cutting a swath of suitors in the process even learning about gnomish engineering in the form of a pocket watch a strange device that tells the owner the current time of day because trust a Gnome to invent something no one really needs as all you have to do is look up and see the position of the sun, moon or stars to know what time of day it is.

Morrin settled down for a lazy wait while the ship got underway with me in the cabin but quickly grew tired of Dusk’s playing with the door and ordered him out. I later learned from one of the slaves who served in the crow’s nest that Dusk along with Puffball decided to terrorize some slaves by not only intimidating whomever was in the crow’s nest into offering tribute to them, I quote the slave in saying “a dragon appeared who was going to eat me unless I gave him all my money”, but in also turning them into furniture as they settled down to nap on top of the slaves head and arms.

Barely into our first day of sea travel we are all summoned on deck to witness a slave being lashed by the Lieutenant Lukens for some trivial matter of eating extra rations. Lukens seemed to enjoy causing such pain and I suspect made up the whole incident. The number of lashes was excessive by most laws but apparently in Thay there are much harsher punishments. Forced to let it continue for fear of causing a diplomatic incident we watched as the slave was killed halfway through the lashing and tossed overboard once all 100 lashes where completed.

Seeing such cruelty I decided it was time to introduce myself around it was then I asked for a glance in the Officer’s mess hall to make sure there was no assassin’s or surprises awaiting the High Autharch and while there I overheard coming from the Captain’s quarters prayers asking his Firelord forgiveness and how to break some enchantment preventing his clerical magic from working. This explained why he needed a bodyguard but not from whom he needed protection.

Over dinner that first night I entertained the officers with a tale of pirate treasure one in which the pirates cleverly hid their more valuable treasure below a fake chest, below another fake chest and that below still another. Settling down to the business of protecting the High Autharch I ask about access to the cargo hold and we are informed it’s sealed magically and off limits. I feared there was something in the hold that Thay didn’t want Raven’s Bluff to know about. Later I would be proved correct.

It was early the next morning when we are woken to a commotion as the cruel Lieutenant Luken is missing in the Medical Officer’s quarters with nothing but a puddle of water, chewed up boots and a sense of unnatural cold. I quickly took to checking the sources of fresh water on the ship but came up empty. Clearice was convinced it was some sort of were-creature or undead as the previous evening the moon was full but we couldn’t establish whom may be the culprit. I asked again for access to the cargo hold fearing a creature may be there that caused this mess but was denied a second time.

Just as we are comparing all these notes more screaming is heard on deck and charging up we see a flock of strange Gargoyle like creatures are swarming the vessel. Clearly outnumbered we manage to put down a few but it seems like for every one or two we slay another takes it place. A minute later the captain’s quarters door bursts open and out walks the High Autharch who upon seeing the commotion unleashes such a fireball as I have never seen which clears the ship of the creatures. He then accuses a slave who holds a amulet of summoning the creatures and orders him Keel-hauled which is a very violent form of execution I might add.

Omega upset over the slavery and treatment of the slaves tries to reason with him that the amulet may not be what they say and that it may offer clues but the High Autharch is stubborn and angry destroys the only piece of evidence, executes the slave and reminds us to do a better job. I couldn’t help but feel threatened by him if we didn’t he’d destroy us. WHY did he need us? I mean if he didn’t have his powers how was he able to clear the ship in a blast such as that.

I search through the slaves bunks looking for anything that might explain the amulet but yet again my search comes up empty. Quickly in the span of a day a few more officers go missing. Later I’m approached by some slaves wishing to start a mutiny whom I warn to keep such talk quiet as I don’t want to see them killed. But somehow word got out and the High Autharch using magic and an onion peels layer after layer of skin from the mutinous slave. Again the cruelty of the Red Wizards is revealed and despite the urge to strike him down to our shame we adhered to our mission not to cause a political incident and protect the High Autharch instead allowing this torture to continue until finally the slave is killed and tossed overboard.

It’s only when the following morning once all the officers have gone missing do we gain access to the cargo hold and there we find a letter signed by the High Autharch himself which clearly shows the Bounty is stolen from Rashamen and it’s some sort of curse/punishment from Rashamen causing all this trouble.

Kaboom!

An explosion rocks the Bounty as we rush up to the captain’s quarters to see his magical door blown open. The slaves are screaming in panic which Omega and Clearice get in order quickly. Upon inspection of the captain’s quarter’s we find a doorway leading to some extra dimensional space. This is the secret of the Bounty and how she stormed that beach.

Inside it we find a freezing cold land large enough to house a thousand or more people beyond the standard crew you’d normally expect for a vessel this size. It’s their we encounter a trio of Bheur Hags. With a blizzard raging we somehow manage to destroy them thanks to Omega turning into a fantastic prehistoric creature! I will have to remember to ask him where he learned such a powerful magic trick as well what he knows about such creatures for what manner of tales could be told about such thing. Maybe even open a circus of them if we could find enough or somehow bring them back!

No sign of the High Autharch could be found and it was deemed he must have magically transported himself home.

Upon returning to Raven’s Bluff with the Bounty we offered up the evidence of it’s theft to the Lord Mayor who seemed happy to have avoided an incident because it was obvious that the High Autharch acted without authority of Thay in stealing the vessel. The Vessel was returned to the rightful owners and the slaves still left freed.

We are given access to a wonderful series of tomes on Thay and it’s history which we order a set copied for our Keeps Library along with the notion we should probably avoid Thay and their Red Wizards for the next while as they may not be to happy with us for foiling one of their wizards deeds.

rewards and such for purposes of record keeping when Andy gets back from vacation———-

We received books on the history of Thay. +4 knowledge history rolls on Thay. For 6 months and we get copies made for ourselves during that time.
A Wand is of Incompetence Detection (Omega)
A Belaying Pin is +2 (club +2) (Keep)
A Map of Location (works while at sea indicating location in the Sword Coast) it is Aglarond in nature. (put in box of ship)
XP 6500 total
Pimfire a potion of Fire Resist 30 / Clearice Greater Invis 5 rounds / Morrin Alchemical Allocation / Omega Beast Form 3
We gained Infamy with Red Wizards of Thay for failing to really protect the High Autharch